


New leaf

by orphan_account



Category: Divergent - Fandom
Genre: F/M, Sex, Sexy Times, Suggestive Themes, explicit - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-04-26
Updated: 2014-07-18
Packaged: 2018-01-20 20:53:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 39,309
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1525301
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tris is tired of her old life in Chicago, so she moves to San Francisco, California. She moves in with Christina, and she very quickly grows accustomed to her friends. She meets the mysterious Four, who can't seem to keep his eyes off her. Rated M for eventual lemons.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: I decided to start a new fic about Tris when she's older. Before you turn away of something because you don't like stories in third person, just keep reading. Only the first paragraph is. I don't really know where this story will go, so I will just write and see what happens. I literally know about as much as anyone who actually decides to read this. This is my first fanfiction! Here's chapter 1:

Beatrice is 25 years old. She is moving to San Francisco from Chicago to turn over a new leaf. She doesn't know anyone there. She was tired of her life in Chicago, and was looking for something new. She looked around at signs around the city and online to find a roommate she could stay with. After a few weeks of staying in a hotel and searching, she found someone who seemed suitable. Christina. Christina's number was on the website, so Beatrice was able to contact her easily. She seemed like a nice girl, so Tris moved in with her.

Tris' POV

I get into the cab and tell the driver Christina's address. Well, I guess it's my address too, but I've never been there yet. We drive for about thirty minutes before going into a cute little neighborhood with lots of trees. We pull up to a cream house with a garage that's not attached to the main house. It has a nice garden out front with a lot of different types of flowers and plants, and even a small Japanese maple tree. I automatically love it. The driver comes around the the trunk and helps me unload my suitcases. I thank him, pay him and walk up the steps to the door. I ring the bell and wait. I hear shuffling around inside and a tall brunette with chocolate skin opens she door.

"Beatrice!" she yells. She hugs me, and I awkwardly put my arms around her. "I'm Christina, but you can call me Chris," She takes my bag from me. "Is this all you brought?" I shrug. I walk into the house and see that it is as cute inside as it is outside. The room that you walk into is the kitchen on one side and the living room/dining room on the other. In the middle of the two areas, towards the back, are stairs. I see a hallway upstairs with multiple closed doors. Christina grabs my hand and pulls me into the kitchen.

"So, this is the kitchen, as you can see. We have glasses, plates, spices, food..." she lists the contents of each cabinet and drawer as she pulls them open. She explains how all the kitchen appliances work, and I want to tell her that I know, that I'm not stupid, but that might come off as rude. She shows me the rest of the house, including my room, which consists of dark blue walls, a queen size bed with a vintage looking head board, and an empty bookshelf. It's plain, but that means I can personalize it a little.

"Make yourself at home. You can't feel uncomfortable here forever," She winks at me then walks out the door, setting my bag down before leaving. We've already talked about prices, which is surprisingly less than my rent for the small apartment I had back in Chicago. I open up my closet and see it already stocked with clothes that look about my size. I start to unpack my bags, putting my belongings into drawers in my dresser or hanging them up amongst the clothes. I feel very tired, so I crawl under the covers of my bed, fully dressed and take a nap.

My eyes flutter open. How long was I asleep? I rub my eyes and look at my phone. It's 3:46 A.M. I groan and sit up. I just slept for ten hours; there's no way I could go back to sleep. I push the blankets back and walk down to the kitchen. I open the fridge and pull out turkey, cheese and lettuce. I get some bread from the pantry and make myself a sandwich. I go back up to my room and pull out my laptop. I look on a map to see if there is anywhere near hear that I can go to get a job tomorrow. I see a small area call West Portal and decide to check it out tomorrow. Plug in my headphones and watch Netflix until I see the hallway light turn on, signifying that Christina's awake. I get out of bed and oped my door.

"Good morning," Christina says cheerily. God, is she ever not excited? She's almost my complete opposite, yet I still feel that we will be good friends.

"Morning, Christina. I'm thinking of going job hunting today in West Portal. Do you think you could help me get there?" I ask. She groans.

"I'm so sorry, Beatrice. I have work today. Otherwise I wouldn't be up this early. I can bring you down there on Saturday if you want?" she suggests. I walk over to the pantry and I grab a box of cereal and milk form the fridge. Chris gets two bowls and spoons.

"It's totally fine. I can find my way around. Thanks, though," She smiles warmly at me as she pours her cereal. An hour later, she leaves for work. I put on a skirt and a sweater; a casual outfit that's not too laid back, since I do plan on finding a job. I grab my keys and head out the door at around noon. I walk around the corner and see a young girl walking her dog. She looks like a younger version of Christina, with her hair pulled back in a bun. She stops walking when she sees me.

"Are you new around here? I've never seen you around," she says.

"Uh, yes. I am. I just moved in with Christina down the street. Do you by any chance know how to get to West Portal from here?" I say. I feel bad for asking this girl for help, but I don't know any other way to get there.

"Of course I do. I don't know how to explain it, so I can just come with you. Let me just tell my mom, cause she would probably freak out if I were gone for more than ten minutes," She pulls out her phone and calls her mom, I'm presuming. "Mom, hi... Yeah, no I'm fine... Yep.... I know... Um, I ran into Christina's new roommate, Beatrice." she says, I'm surprised Christina talked about me enough to tell them my name. "She needs to get to West Portal, can I just show her down there?... I can drop Myrna off so I don't have to tie her up... I'll be back in a little bit... Okay, I love you too... Bye," She hangs up and smiles at me. "Okay, I just have to drop my dog off and then we can go," Starts to walk down the street and she stops in front of a little red house. She runs up the stairs and comes back a few moments later without her dog.

"Okay, let's go!" She says. "It's not that hard a walk, but the streets in this neighborhood are curvy, so it's hard to get around if you don't know what your doing." Her comment could have been directed at me in a mean way, but I don't feel like it was.

"Shouldn't you be in school? How old are you? 15? 14?"

"15,"

"I mean, it is mid-day on a Tuesday," I ask. She shrugs. "My school has a lot of random breaks. Why did you leave your hometown?" she says.

"I don't really know. I guess I wanted to start again, to turn a new leaf, you know? I wanted a clean slate, and I felt like I couldn't have that, staying in the same place my whole life," I don't know why I'm telling her all this. I barely know her. I don't even know her name. Her eyes widen as I talk, then she smiles mischievously.

"We're you involved in some... Activities? With people" She lowers her voice to a whisper. "of the other gender?" She wiggles her eyebrows and I blush.

"No! Well, yes, but that wasn't why I left." I my face heats up even more. lets just say I have my reasons for leaving. She laughs.

"Okay. I'm Victoria," she says, holding her hand out to me.

"Nice to meet you, Victoria," I shake her hand."So tell me about yourself. I should get to know my neighbor, right?" She nods.

"I'm a sophomore. I like to read. I have two older brothers who are so annoying but I love the crap out of them. My parents are divorced. I have a dog named Myrna Mountweasel, I know. My favorite movie is Frozen. My favorite book is The Mortal Instrument series. My favorite band is The Black Keys. I like pizza. Your turn," She turns to me.

"Okay. I graduated college early and didn't go to graduate school. I also have a brother who is also annoying, but I love him. I haven't seen my parents in ages, no pets, favorite movie is Forrest Gump. Book is The Fault In Our Stars. I don't know about my favorite band though," I say, trying to remember all the things she said.

"Food?" She looks at me expectedly.

"Oh! Um... Malteasers." I reply. She gasps.

"The British candy?" I nod.

"Those are the best thing in the world. Better than pizza. There's actually a store in West Portal that sells them. I can show you. We're almost there,"

I look at the base of the hill that we're walking down and I see a single street emerging out of a train station. On the sides of the street are small shops and stores. I see a library on the corner and there are Girl Scouts selling cookies in front of a Walgreens. I stop to look around and Victoria stops with me. "One of my favorite parts of San Francisco. Do you think you could make it back down here on your own?" I nod.

 

"Do you wanna help me look for a job?" I ask, hopeful that I won't have to walk around here by myself. I still don't know the area. She shrugs.

"Sure. There's a coffee shop that is hiring. I've actually been looking for a job too, but I found one as a math tutor," she says.

"That's great! Do you like math?" I ask.

"I love math. And science," I nod my head. We go into a little shop called La Boulangerie D'amour. A few people say hi to her as we make our way to the back.

"I know the owner," she explains. She knocks on the door, and a large African American man opens the door. "Max!" He pulls her into a hug. "How have you been?"

"Good, thanks for asking. Who's your friend?" He says, looking at me.

"This is Tris. She just moved here and is looking for a job." Tris. I like it. I smile.

"I'm actually short on staff right now, and could use a waiter. Victoria can show you the ropes. She worked her for a few months before she got her tutor job," He smiles, and Victoria grabs my hand and pulls my to another room. She hands me an apron before putting one on her self.

"It's very easy. Each person at each table has a number sign, and you have to bring the tray to the right number. It's kind of like those kid video games of cafés and restaurants," I smile. "It feels good to be back," She smiles at me before heading out of the room, me on her heels. I try out the job for about and hour, and I decide I like it. I back to the room and fill out some paper work with Max about finalizing my job. I thank him and get back to work. I'm wiping down a table when a man walks in and calls Victoria's name.

"Four!" she yells back. She runs up to him and hugs him, and he kisses the top of her head, I really hope he it not her boyfriend; he is much too old for her. He looks more my age, maybe even a little older. "Oh, my god! It's been so long, I missed you," she says.

"I know. I can't go this long without seeing my little sister," he smiles. Good, he's not her boyfriend. I look at them and realize that they don't look at all alike. Victoria has brown curly hair and dark skin with hazel eyes. He has brown hair, but it's not curly and he's white. His eyes are a mesmerizing deep blue, the bluest blue I've ever seen. He is by far the hottest guy I've ever seen.

"Don't call me your little sister because I'm not," Victoria says firmly. He leans down and whispers something in her ear, flicking his eyes up to mine. She laughs. She says something back to him, too quietly for me to hear, she turns back around and looks at me. I turn around and go back to behind the desk and empty the cash register. The cafe closes in five minutes, and no one is here anymore. I take off my apron and close up the shop.

"Good job, Tris. I can walk you home if you want," Victoria says, her hand in the man's.

"Sure, I'm not exactly sure how to get there, so thanks," I smile at her.

"I can drive you both home. It's dark out now. I'm Four, by the way," The man, Four, says, holding his hand out to me. I shake it.

. "Thanks, but I really don't mind walking. It's not that far," I reply.

"It feels longer when your walking back up all the hills, trust me," he says. I sigh.

"Okay," I walk out of the store to his car, which is a black mustang. It's beautiful. "You've got a sweet car," I say, admiring it.

"Thanks. I rebuilt it after it was in a car accident a few years ago. The owner didn't feel like fixing it himself, so I bought it off him," he says, shrugging.

"That's awesome," I get in the car and we drive home in silence. He drops Victoria off first and I come around to sit in the front seat.

"How do you know Victoria?" I ask.

"She's my best friend's little sister. But honestly, sometimes she's cooler than her brothers. She's like family to me," he smiles, his blue eyes glistening under the lights in the car.

"That's sweet. Thank you for driving me home, Four. I appreciate it," I smile at him. He holds out his hand for me to shake it.

"It was nice to meet you, Tris," I shake his hand slowly while looking into his eyes. We stare at each other for a few minutes before I clear my throat and open the car door.

"See you around," he waves before pulling down the street. I walk up the steps and open the door.

"Beatrice, I was so worried! I came home and you were gone, and I didn't know you were going job hunting today," Chris says.

"Sorry, I went for a walk so I would know the neighbourhood a little better and I ran into Victoria and she took me to West Portal and I got a job," I say. I leave out the part about Four, though. She sighs.

"Victoria is such a sweetheart. Oh, that reminds me. I'm having people over on Wednesday at 2:00. I figured I should introduce you to my friends. We're going to the parts of the city that you actually should care about, then we will order in food. Sound good?" I nod.

"Sounds good," I reply. I go upstairs and change into a big T-shirt. I brush my teeth and pull my hair up into a ponytail and crawl under my covers.


	2. Chapter 2

I look at the clock. It's 1, so that means I have an hour to get ready before Chris' friends come over. I take a shower and straighten my hair. I put on a blue and white striped crop top and my high waisted shorts. I put on my long cardigan that I keep unbuttoned that goes to my knees. I apply mascara and eyeliner and go downstairs to wait for the people to arrive. I pull out my book and read for 15 minutes before the bell rings. Chris comes running down the stairs to open it. Two dark skinned boys that look oddly familiar walk in to the room.

"Hey Zeke, hey Uriah," Chris says. I stand up and come to greet them. "This is Beatrice, my new roommate," I smile and shake both their hands. The taller one is Zeke, the shorter one is Uriah, I learn. They're brothers. "Zeke and Uriah are Victoria's brothers," Chris explains. Oh, that must be why they look familiar.

"Were you the girl she was out with all day?" Uriah asks. I nod. "Okay. She likes you," He smiles. The door opens and a man with blond hair and green eyes walks in. Everyone turns to look at him.

"Will!" Christina exclaims. She runs up to him and kisses him, his hand wraps around her waist. After they're done kissing, she turns and looks at me. "Beatrice, this is my boyfriend Will,"

"You can call me Tris," I say. Christina looks at me.

"Tris. I like it," she says. "Okay, so now we're just waiting on Shauna, Marlene, and Eaton, right? Lynn's not coming?"

Uriah nods. "I don't know why you call him Eaton," he says. Chris shrugs.

"He won't tell us his name, and his nickname just feels wrong to me. He doesn't mind," she says. A few moments later, two girls walk in. One had reddish brown hair that falls in loose curls, she goes over to Uriah and plants a kiss on his cheek. The other girl says hello and smiles at me. She walks over to Zeke and puts her hand in his. They introduce themselves. Zeke's girlfriend is Shauna, Uriah's is Marlene.

We all move to sit around a table. "We're just waiting on one person," Will informs me. I decide to go and pack my bag, so I excuse myself and go upstairs. I grab my white tote and put my phone, wallet, and a book inside. I see I have a new voicemail, and just as I am about to call it, Chris calls my name. I can check my voice mail later. I walk down the stairs, prepared to see who the next guest is. It surprises me when I see him.

"Four?" I say.

"Hi, Tris," he replies, smiling.

"Woah, woah. Have you two met before?" Chris says.

"Briefly," Four says.

"Alright. First we're going to the Haight, then we're going to a bookstore, then we're getting bubble tea!" Chris says with enthusiasm. We get outside and divide ourselves into groups for each car.

"Hey Tris, come ride with me!" Four yells to me. I shrug and climb in to the passenger seat of his car.

"You knew that I would be here today, didn't you?" I say once he gets into the car. He turns to look at me and smirks.

"Yep. I figured you were the famous Beatrice that Chris kept talking about," I blush.

"I'm really not that great," I say. "I'm nothing special."

"Says who?"

 

When we get to Haight street, I see that is a very cool, very urban place. It has a bunch of little shops. It smells faintly of marijuana and cigarettes. As we drive down the road, I see a lot of homeless people sitting on the sidewalk, but none of them seem particularly sad. All of them either have and instrument that keeps them happy, or a friends, or even a pet. It makes me happy to see that they still manage to find joy in life.

"This is the hippie district of San Francisco. It's a little intimidating, and you might not want to be walking around here on your own, but you'll learn to love it," Four says. I turn away from the window to face him, a smile on my face.

"I think I already love it," I say. He laughs.

"Just wait 'till we get out of the car and we can go in the shops. You'll love it more," He winks and I turn back to look at the window.

Once we get out of the car, the smell of marijuana gets much stronger. My nose crinkles up at the smell.

"It's awful at first, but you'll get used to it. Come on. There's so much to see," Four says. He grabs my hand and pulls me down the street towards Christina and Will. I can feel small electric shocks pass through his hands into my hands. I've never felt this feeling before. I thought electricity between two people only happened in books.

"Hello! First, we're going into a store called positively Haight street. Then we'll get ice cream. After that, we can just walk around and go into any story you like. Sound good, Tris?" Christina says once we get next to her. Her eyes flock down to where my hand is still engulfed in Four's. I immediately drop it and he turns to look at me. I shrug.

"Yeah, that sounds fine," I say. We walk down the street into the store she was talking about and I'm immediately taken aback by all the colors and commotion coming from inside. There are lots of old band shirts and tye-dyed things and some clothes. There are pieces of jewelry everywhere.

"So? How do you like it?" Four asks me. I look around, still amazed.

"This is awesome! Is this what everything here is like?" I ask. He nods. I walk around the store and pick out a few nice photographs and a Pink Floyd shirt and head to the cash register. I pay and we leave the store.

"Thank you guys for bringing me here," I say.

"No problem. It's good for you to get to know your new town, right?" Will says. I nod.

"Anyway, come on. Ben & Jerry's is just down the street," Four says. We walk down the street to an ice cream shop.

"Where's Marlene, Uriah, Zeke, and Shauna?" I ask.

"Marlene and Uriah are probably making out in their car, and Zeke and Shauna are in other shops," Chris replies. When we get to the front of the line, I order cookies and cream ice cream. We all go to sit at the tables out side, and I sit in between Chris and Four. I look over and see that he ordered vanilla ice cream.

"Why'd you get vanilla?" I ask him, my nose crinkling up. "It's so plain,"

"Hey, yours is just vanilla with Oreo chunks in it," he defends. I laugh.

"Well, at least mine has flavor," I tease.

"Mine does have flavor! I always get vanilla," he says. I sigh.

"That's boring," He laughs and finishes his ice cream before taking a big spoonful of mine. "Hey!" I scream. A few people turn to look at me.

"Thanks!" he says, taking another bite. I don't even try to stop him.

"You can have the rest," I say, holding my cup out to him. He shakes his head.

"No, it's fine. It's your ice cream, Tris," he says.

"I'm not going to eat anymore, so you can have it if you want it,"

"Are you sure?" I nod and he takes it. He eats the rest in two bites and we get up.

"Hey, guys don't leave! I'm not done with my ice cream yet!" Chris says from her chair. She starts to shove ice cream into her mouth in a fruitless attempt to finish it.

"Woah, Chris, slow down. You'll get brain freeze," I say. She stop eating and pushes two fingers to each of her temples. I laugh. "I think Four and I can walk around for a bit on our own, if that's okay with you guys," I turn back to Four and he nods.

"Okay. That's fine with me. Call either me or Will when you want to leave, okay?" she says.

"Okay," I reply. Four and I turn around and walk down the street, stopping into random stores to look around. After about thirty minutes, we pass yet another tattoo shop. I stop walking and peer into the shop.

"Hey, Four," I call to him. He turns around to see me looking at the tattoo designs on the glass window.

"Tris?" he says slowly. "What are you doing?" He walks up behind me and puts his hand on the glass to look over my shoulder. I point to a design of an ivy vine and another one of three birds in flight.

"Which one do you think I should get?" I say. He looks hesitant to say anything.

"Are you sure you want a tattoo? You do know that they never come off?" he says. I turn around and lean by back against the glass. His hand is still supporting his weight, so his body is only inches from mine.

"I'm not stupid; I know they're permanent. I just want one," I say. He sighs.

"I like the birds and the ivy. You could get a combination. Birds flying out of the ivy, or into it," He shrugs. "I don't know,"

"That's a good idea, but I don't know where I would put it. I mean, I would want to be able to hide it in professional circumstances," I say.

"You could put it..." His hand goes to my mid outer thigh. He runs it slowly up the side of my body. My breath hitches when his calloused fingers touch the bare skin in between my shorts and my shirt. He keep moving his fingers up until they get right up to just below my armpit, his eyes following his hand wherever it goes. "Here," he says. His eyes lock with mine and he drops his hand back to his side and steps away from me. Clearly he doesn't feel as out of breath and confused and _what-the-hell-just-happened_ as I do. I open my mouth to say something, but nothing comes out so I just nod. I run my fingers through my blonde hair and enter the shop.

"Welcome to Haight Ashbury tattoo and piercings, I'm Tori, how can I help you today?" a nice looking woman says. She has a sleeve of tattoos and a bird on the back of her neck which I noticed when I first walked in. I'm still a bit dazed from wherever happened out side, so I reply quietly.

"I would like to get a tattoo," I say.

"Alright, what would you like?" She leads me to a table that has all the designs laid out. I look over my shoulder and see that Four is still waiting outside, watching me. I turn back to Tori and point to the ivy.

"I'm thinking of this, but to incorporate some birds into it. Three, specifically," I say. She nods.

"Where do you want it?" I show her the area that Four said. She smiles.

"Okay, that might take and hour or so, so you might want to tell your boyfriend that he can come in, or walk around," she says. I almost corrected her that Four's not my boyfriend, but eh, let her think we're dating. I could never be with someone like him, but I'm flattered that she thinks I could. I nod and exit the shop.

"The tattoo is going to take a while, so you might not want to wait for me," I say sheepishly.

"I'll wait," he says.

"Really? It's going to take a while, just so you know,"

"I know. I don't mind waiting," he smiles.

"Okay, um, you can come and wait inside if you want," I say.

"Sure," He follows me back into the shop and Tori approaches us.

"Okay, I set up all the needles and stuff for you, but first I need to see I.D. I don't think your under 18, but we have to check anyway for safety things," I nod and pull out my wallet. Tori looks over at Four. "Hey Four! Long time no see!" she says. Wait. They know each other? How?

"Hi, Tori. Good to see you again," He hugs her. Four must see my confused look because he laughs. "Tori was the one who gave me my first and all of my tattoos. I come back every once and a while to say hi," he says.

"Oh," Four has a tattoo? I didn't know that. I guess I wouldn't; I've only known him for two days. I hand Tori my I.D. She looks at it, then hands it back to me.

"Okay, go ahead and lie down on your side on that chair. You're going to need to take off your shirt for me to do this. I'm going to talk to Four for a second," she says. I walk over to the chair and peel off my T-shirt and lie on my side so my back is facing Four. I'm not sure I want him seeing me in my bra. They talk for a few minutes before Tori comes back and sits in front of me, a smile on her face.

"Color or black and white?" she asks.

"Black and white, please," I say. She nods and turns to a table with some paper. She draws a quick sketch of my tattoo and shows it to me.

"Good?" I nod.

"Perfect," She turns back to the tray with the inks and the needles. She turns them on and starts working near my hip.

"I will make it go lower, I'm just going to start here for now," she says. The needle on my skin doesn't hurt as much as I thought is would. It is quite annoying, though. After a while, my skin starts to feel raw and scratched. It's not the most pleasant feeling. After close to half and hour, she gets to the bottom of my bra. He hand reaches around to unclassified it.

"Can I? I need to move it so I can tattoo underneath," she says. I nod. She undoes the clasp and pulls it off. She continues tattooing, but now I feel vulnerable and exposed, though no one can see me but her.

"Um, can I ask, where is Four right now?" I say, I don't really need him to be in a position where he can see my tiny boobs.

"He's sitting on a chair, facing the other direction. Don't worry, he can't see you," she says. At first I'm relieved that he can see, but I'm also a little offended. Am I really that bad that he would turn his back? I thought guys always wanted to see breasts, no matter how big or small, at any chance they get. "I know what you're thinking, and I made him turn around. Honestly, between you and me, I think he wanted to watch," she says, smiling. I try to keep my face to same to not give anything away about what I was feeling, but I can feel my face start to heat up. She laughs.

Another twenty minutes later, Tori is finally done with my tattoo. I stand up and use my hands to cover my breasts when I look in the mirror. It's beautiful.

"Wow, Tori. It's amazing. You're really talented," I say. She smiles.

"Thank you, really. You know what? It's on the house," she says. She grabs bandages from the table.

"Oh, no. It's fine, I can pay. Really, I couldn't do that," I say. She tapes on some gauze on my side.

"I insist. It's your first," she says.

"Thank you so much. For the tattoo, for being to nice, for everything," I say. She hugs me, making sure she doesn't press too h ard on the bandages.

"Of course. Just make sure you visit, alright?" I nod.

"Promise," We stop hugging. "Thanks again," I smile one last time and walk over to Four and tap him on the shoulder and he turns around. "Ready to go?" I ask. He nods.

"Did it hurt?" he asks.

"It wasn't the most pleasant feeling in the world," I say. He laughs.

"Can I see it?" he says. I shake my head.

"No," I say. He pouts, making me laugh.

"Why not?" he whines,

"Because there's gauze on it and I don't really feel like taking my clothes off you you right now, Four. I barely know you," I tease with a smile on my face. He laughs.

"One day, Beatrice. One day," he says. I laugh and we leave the store, him yelling one last goodbye to Tori.

"You should call Chris," he says once we're outside.

"I should," I pull out my phone and dial her number. She answers on the third ring.

"Hey Trissy, what's up?" she says.

"Not much, can we go? I think I've looked around enough," I say.

"I was wondering when you'd call. You and Four have been alone for almost two hours," she says. "Did you do anything fun?" I can hear the suggestiveness in her voice.

"No! We just walked around, I promise," I glance over at Four to see that he's staring right at me. I blush and look away. "Whatever, can we go?"

"Yeah sure. Just tell Four we're going straight to Tpumps. We don't have time for the bookstore, and he'll know where that is. We'll meet you there," She hangs up before I can say anything else.

"Okay, so she said to go straight to TPumps, and that we don't have time for the bookstore. What is Tpumps?" I say. He smiles.

"Oh, it's the best thing in the world. You'll love it," he says. "Come on, we have to get back to the car," I follow him to his car and I climb in the passenger seat.

"How did you like the Haight?" he says once we get out of the parking spot.

"It was awesome. I really liked it. Thank you for taking me and showing me around," I say.

"It was my pleasure,"

"So what is this PPumps?" I ask.

"Ok, first off, it's Tpumps. And it's bubble tea," he says.

"What is bubble tea?" I say.

"You've never had bubble tea?" He gasps.

"Wait, is that the stuff with the llama testicles at the bottom?" I ask, only half joking. He laughs, but it's not a chuckle, or the laugh of a boy trying to be sexy, it's a real, loud, throw-your-head-back laugh. I laugh too.

"Yes, it's the stuff with the llama testicles," he says, still laughing,

"It was a serious question. What is it anyway?" I say.

"It's tapioca. Or boba, whatever you want to call it," he replies.

[page break]

When we get to Tpumps, I see there's a long line going from the cash registers almost to the door. It must be really good if the line is this long.

After we get out of the car, Uriah and Marlene walk up to us, drinks in their hands. I see the tapioca at the bottom.

"Hey Four, hey Tris," Uriah says. I say hi. "Zeke and Shauna are already waiting in line, so we're just waiting for Chris and Will. You guys might want to get in the line before it gets long," he suggest.

"Is the line not long now?" I ask, peering into the restaurant.

"It's really short right now," Marlene tells me. "Sometimes it will go out the door and down the street," My eyes widen.

"We should get in line, Tris," Four says. We walk in the door and I'm hit with a nice smell of fruit syrups and honey and tea.

"How do I do this? How do I order? What's good?" I say.

"Really anything you can get it good, just don't get red bean or anything like that. Those are gross," he says. "I recommend peach guava black tea. You can get milk if you want, but it makes it more sweet. I normally get normal sweetness,"

"I'll get that," I say.

"Milk or no milk?"

"No milk."

"What's your name going to be?" He asks.

"We get to say names?" He nods. "Um, I'll say Mr. Krabs," I say. He nods again.

"Then I'll be Plankton," I laugh. I get to the front of the line and order my drink. They give me a weird look when I say my name, but they write it anyway. I sit on a bench near the pick up place and wait for Four to order. He comes and sits next to me.

"Mister Krabs?" someone yells. Four nudges me.

"Oh! Do I go get it now?" He nods. I go to the pick up place. The person with my drink in his hands looks at me. He's actually quite cute. He has light brown hair and green eyes.

"Hey. Are you Mister Krabs?" I nod. "Okay, I have your drink. If you don't like it, we can make you another one. Is your boyfriend Plankton?"

"He's not my boyfriend, but yeah, he is," I say. I don't know why I told him that Four isn't my boyfriend and not Tori.

"Oh, okay then. I'm Jack, by the way. Here's you drink," I take it and jab my straw through the whole in the top. I take a sip, mad immediately my nose scrunched up is response to the sweetness. "You don't like it, do you?" Jack says.

"Um, no, not really. Can I get it less sweet?" I ask. I feel bad making him make another one.

"Of course. Coming right up," He leaves and I walk back next to Four.

"That took a while. Where's your drink?" he says.

"I didn't like it, so I made them make another one," I say.

"Like goldilocks?" he says.

"Like goldilocks,"

A few minutes later, and after Four has gotten his drink, my "name" is called again. Jake hands me another drink, and this time it's much less sweet. I thank him and we leave. Outside and waiting for us is everyone. Somehow, Will and Christina managed to go through and get their drinks without me noticing. Chris points at my drink.

"You got a number on your drink!" she yells. I turn my cup around to see that Jack wrote his number next to my name. I laugh. "Was it Jack?" she asks.

"Yeah, probably," She squeals.

"Oh, my god, he is so cute. I always look at him, and it says his name on his tag, so that's how I know his name. You should call him!" she says.

"Maybe I will," I say. I know I probably won't, but I say I will just so she will shut up. She wraps her arm around my waist and squeezes my tender tattoo.

"Ow!" I exclaim. She releases my waist and looks at the bandages.

"Tris, what the hell did you do?" she says.

"I may or may not have gotten a tattoo," I say. For once she doesn't have anything to say.

"Really?" she says.

"Really," I smile and open the passenger door to Four's car. He gets into the driver' seat and we drive back home before Chris can say anything else.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So there is chapter two! This was really long and took me a while to write. Review please, whether your comments are good or bad, please do. I want to make this story as good as I can. 'Till next time!  
> ~Isabel


	3. Chapter 3

Four pulls up into my driveway after driving me home. "Thank you for everything today," I say.

"Of course, Tris. Anytime," he says. I smile at him and turn around to open the door but he lock it before I can get out. I freeze in fear of what he might do. I'm not locked in a car with a man who i don't know well, who is much bigger than me, and who easily could rape me or stab me. I don't dare turn around and face him.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. I can unlock the doors, I just wanted to talk to you," he unlocks the doors and I let out a breath. I sit back in my seat and look forward. "I realize now how scary that must have been. I would never hurt you," he says.

"So, what do you want to talk to me about?" I ask.

"I have two favors for you," he says.

"Fair enough, since you showed me around and spent your time with me today," I say.

"I would spend time with you any day, Tris. But first off, will you throw this away in your house?" He hands me his empty cup from Tpumps. I nod. "Second, will you please show me your tattoo?" I shake my head.

"No," I say.

"Why not?"

"Because I barely know you, and I don't really want to take off the bandages," I say. "It could get infected,"

"That rarely happens. Please, Tris?" I shake my head again. "What if I let you see mine? No one's ever seen it or even knows about it except for Tori and Zeke, but he's never actually seen it. He just knows I have it,"

"You want me to be the first to see it?" He nods. "How long have you had it?"

"Three years," he says.

"And no one found out about it?" He nods. "Okay, I'll let you see it," He smiles. I take a deep breath and lift up the side of my shirt to reveal the tattoo and the side of my striped bra. His fingers lightly touch the leaves and I shiver.

"Sorry," he whispers.

"It's fine," I say. I turn to look at him, looking at my side. His fingers go back to my ribs and they brush along my side. This is like what happened outside the tattoo shop, but a thousand times better. The electricity is back.

"Where are the birds?" he says. I was hoping he wouldn't ask that. The tattoo curls over my left breast and the birds are on my collar bone. With the shirt I'm wearing, the only way he would be able to see them is if I take off my entire shirt.

"Um, they're on my collar bone," I say sheepishly. He stops looking at my ribs and locks his eyes with mine.

"If you're uncomfortable with showing me, you don't have to," he says. "Really, it's fine," I let out a big breath,

"No, I promised to show you, so I will," I say. I reach down for the hem of my shirt and pull it over my head. I turn to the side and face him. "The rest goes below my hips, but I'm not going to take my pants off," He laughs. His eyes skim the top of my breast where the leaves end and over my collar bone to the birds. Here I am, shirtless in front of a guy I met two days ago. Does that make me a slut? He looks at my other boob and down to my stomach, even though there's not tattoo down there.

"You're beautiful," he says. I blush. "I mean, um," he clears his throat and looks back up at me. "The tattoo. The tattoo is beautiful," He blushes too, maybe even more than I'm blushing. I laugh. I take my shirt and pull it back over my head. I swear he looks a little disappointed for a second, but he quickly hides it with his usual expressionless look. The blush is still there, though.

"Okay, your turn, mister," I say. He reaches the the hem of his shirt and tugs it over his head. I notice first that he has flames on his ribs, in color and extreme detail. It's amazing. Then I notice that he has amazingly defined abs. He has a six pack, and he is very, very muscular. His biceps are huge, and so are his forearms. He makes me feel even more self conscious about my underdeveloped body. I've always had small breasts, and I thought I would develop later, but I never did. I guess there's still time, but it's mostly wishful thinking.

"This was my first one," he says, pointing to his ribs. "Tori did it," I look back at his deep blue eyes. My eyes roam over his chest before he puts his shirt back on, assuming that's all he wanted to show me. But then I notice two small black lines on either side of his neck. He shuffles around as best he can and faces the window. I see that his entire back is covered in thick black lines, with five symbols that go straight down his spine. "And this was my last one. I might get another one though. I'm not sure,"

"It's absolutely breathtaking," I say. Each symbol has very intricate designs in them. On top there are flames, below the, are two hands clasped. Then there is a scale, and eye and a tree. I reach my small hand our and touch the top circle. He draws in a breath and I move my fingers down his back. I hope they're not too cold. I trace the lines that cover the rest of his back, his muscles flexing as I go. He turns his head to the side and looks at me. We lock eyes. We stay there for what feels like forever. He turns back to face front and so do I.

"thank you for showing me that," I say.

"Thank you, Tris. Sorry if I scared you with the locking of the doors," he says. I laugh.

"I'll see you around, Four," I say.

"I'll see you around,"

I leave the car and walk into my house. Chris is sitting at the bar in the kitchen. She spins around in the chair as soon as I walk in the door.

"Hi, Chris," I say. She probably has questions for me about Four, so I try to run up to my room.

"Don't you dare think about it," She hops up from her chair and grabs my arm before I can run away. She pulls me to the living room and pushes me into the couch and sits cross-legged on the coffee table.

"Won't that break?" I ask. She shakes her head.

"I know we haven't known each other for very long, but I don't care. We're going to have to get used to each other, whether we like it or not. So, we may as we'll skip the awkward almost friends but not really phase and just get right to it. So, I'm gonna jump right in, and just pretend that we've been best friends for a long time, okay?" she says quickly. I nod. "What up with you and Eaton?"

"Why do you call him Eaton?" I ask.

"It's his last name. Answer the question," "What's his first name?" I ask. I can tell she's getting annoyed.

"Don't know, answer the question," she persists.

"Nothing is up with us. I barely know him. I met him when I was down in west portal. He drove me and Victoria home. We're just friends, I guess, if you can even call him that," I say. I certainly think of him as a friend. A very attractive friend.

"You totally love him," I blush. "See, you're blushing, that just proves it," she says.

"I do not love him. Like I said, I barely know him," I defend.

"Then you have a crush on him. Or as the British say, you totally fancy him," she says in an accent. I laugh. "That's so much nicer sounding. _Fancy_ ,"

"You've really though about this, haven't you?" I say.

"The fancy thing or you and number boy?" she says.

"Both,"

"Well, yes I have. But in all honestly you two would be really good for each other. He's been in San Francisco his whole life, so he can be your tour guide. And he needs a girlfriend. He seems like he would have one because honestly, between you and me, he is so hot. Like, the hottest guy I've ever seen. Maybe more than Will," she says.

"I've noticed."

"But he doesn't have one. He had kind of a wild streak of one night stands a few years back, but that only lasted a few weeks. Every night he'd go partying, and he's always ask if he could bring them back here. He doesn't let anyone go in his apartment, so I just stayed at Will's, doing some partying of my own, if you know what I mean," she says, wiggling her eyebrows. I pinch the bridge of my nose.

"Oh, god," I groan.

"That's what I said too," she whispers. My eyes widen really wide when I understand what she means.

"Stop. No, no, no. No." I say. "Stop," She laughs.

"He stopped having meaningless sex when he realized he wasn't doing anything for anyone. He closed off to girls except for Marlene, Shauna, and me, and started focusing on his work. He quit his job and started this company. I don't really know what he does, but I'm pretty sure he's fairly rich. I think his whole family is, but his money is all from his job," she tells me.

"Wow, good for him," I say. "I would love to start my own business,"

"Well, he's the guy to talk to," she says. "So, what's your tattoo? I have one too, actually," She lifts up her arm and I see an interesting pattern on the bottom of her bicep.

"Mine's on my side," I say.

"Then take your shirt off, I don't care. I'm gonna end up seeing you naked someday, Tris. Better get used to it now," she says. Her blatancy surprises me. I laugh and pull of my shirt. "That's really nice, Tris. Good choice," she says.

"Actually, Four told me to get it," I tell her. A smile breaks out on her face.

"Has he seen it too? Did you take of your shirt for him too?" she says. My face heats up. I know she's joking, but she makes me feel like a slut for showing him.

"No, of course not," I lie.

"You sure that wasn't what you were doing when you spent twenty minutes in the car after you pulled up?" God, she knows her stuff.

"We were just talking, Chris, I promise," I say. She raises an eyebrow at me and I don't say anything.

"Okay. If you say so. You can go now. Meeting adjourned!" She hits her fist against the table, like a fave gavel. I get up and go to my room. I put on my pajamas and brush my teeth before crawling into bed and reading until I fall asleep.

 

I wake to the sound of Cristina screaming. I run our of bed, wearing only a big T-shirt and into her room. She is presses against the wall, her arms crossed over her chest.

"What's wrong?" I ask. She looks terrified. She points the the wall on the other side of the room.

"Oh, my god," I say in surprise. There is a giant spider about the size of my hand crawling up the wall. "Does this happen often?" I ask her. She shake her head, not taking her eyes off the spider.

"Call Will! No, don't call Will, he hates spiders and he lives like twenty minutes away. Call Eaton! He'll come, especially if you call him," she says, not turning her head at all. Even in all of her terror, she can still say something about Four and me. "Unless, of course, you want to kill it," I shake my head.

"No thanks," I run back to my room and grab my phone. I run back to Chris. She screams as the spider turns around and crawls down the wall. She throws a slipper at it and I goes back up. "I don't have his number," I say.

"How the hell are you so calm right now? How are you not freaking out?" she yells.

"Because if I freak out, I'll become more scared," I say calmly.

"Go grab my phone; it's on the bedside table. Call from your phone though. He'll know it's you. He asked for your number last night after we were done talking. He wouldn't answer me this early," she screams.

"What makes you think he'll answer me?" I say. He head snaps toward me, finally taking her eyes off the spider.

"Just do it before this spider eats both of us!" she yells viciously.

"I'm not sure that's how spiders work," I say.

"Do it or I'll kill you before it has the chance," she says. I quickly grab her phone and dial Four's number into mine. He picks up after the first ring.

"Hey, Tris. Chris gave me your number, I hope you don't mind. What's up?" Christina screams again.

"Did someone just get killed?" He laughs on the other side.

"Four, you need to come over her right away," I say seriously.

"Are you okay? I heading to my car right now. Is someone getting killed?" he says, not laughing anymore.

"I'm going to die if you don't get here right now!" Chris yells. She must have heard him talking. "Hang up before you distract him into a car accident." I hang up. "Go downstairs and open the door for him. Now, Tris, go!" I run down the stairs and open the door and step on the the front patio thing. I see Four's car driving down the street. He hops out of his car and runs up to me.

"What's going on?" he says frantically. When he comes up to me, it's only then that I realize that I'm not wearing any pants. His eyes don't leave my face though.

"Just come upstairs," I say, I run back up the stairs, Four at my heels. We burst into Chris' room. She stays huddled in the corner. She points to the spider, which is now just above the door way. I scream and jump out from underneath it.

"Kill it!" Chris screams at Four. He steps calmly back and looks at it.

"Really? Is this really what you called me at..." He looks at his watch. "9:37 for?"

"Yes, now kill it!" I say.

"God, you guys are such girls," he jokes.

"What do you expect us to be, dolphins?" I say.

"Now is not the time for jokes!" Chris screams.

"It's really not even that big," he says.

"Well, you're much bigger than we are, so the proportion of spider to body for you is smaller," Chris defends.

"Whatever," He grabs a cup from her bedside table and brushes the spider into to it with his hands. Oh, my god, how does he do that? I could never touch a spider. He opens the window and drops it outside, down two stories. Chris and I both let out a huge breath.

"Do you think it survived the fall?" I ask.

"Probably. But at least now it's not in your house," Four says. Chris goes up to him and hugs him. He looks over her shoulder at me. His eyes look down to my bare legs and I blush. Chris releases him.

"Thank you so much. That was so scary," she says and he laughs.

"Um, I'm going to go put on some clothes," I say. I leave Four and Chris in the room to go get dressed. I take of my oversized shirt and put on a striped dress and a sweater. Right before I walk back into the room, I head Four and Chris talking. I feel bad for eavesdropping, but I heard my name.

"I'm not going to ask her out, Chris, and that's that." Four says. I feel a little bad that he would dismiss the idea so quickly. I don't want to date him either, but only because I barely know him. Maybe it's the same thing, but who are we kidding. Why would someone like him go out with someone like me?

"Why not?" Chris whines.

"Because I said so." He says something else, but it was too quiet for me to hear.

"She thinks you're hot, just so you know. Don't tell her I told you that," Chris say. Goddamnit, Chris. Thanks a lot.

"Really?" Four says.

"Yeah," I use this time to enter the room. I knock on the door and I hear Four clear his throat. I open the door and step inside.

"Um, thanks, Four, for coming over," I say. I feel awkward after what Chris told him. He probably thinks that I'm a creep.

"Yeah, uh, of course. I should go, leave you two to your girly things," he says.

"You're welcome to stay. It's fine with us, right Tris?" Chris says. She looks at me and cocks her head to the side.

"Yeah, um, it's fine with me," I say, avoiding Four's eyes, which I know are on me.

"Okay, I'll stay. Do you want me to call the rest of the group?" He says.

"No, Marlene and Uriah are probable doing what they do best, having morning sex," I cough and blush. Four laughs. "Same goes for Zeke and Shauna," Chris says.

"Okay, I'm going to go make breakfast," I leave the room and go down to the kitchen. I look through the fridge and the pantry until I find the proper ingredients to make french toast. Luckily, Chris has nice, fluffy bread that will work perfectly. I cook the toast and go upstairs to tell Chris and Four that breakfast is ready. I hear my name again, but this time I don't listen to their conversation. I knock on the door; Chris opens it.

"Breakfast is ready, if either of you want some," I say.

"Okay. You weren't, by any chance listening to our conversation were you?" she says. I look over at Four who is sitting at the foot of her bed. His eyes move to the floor when I look at him. They were definitely saying bad things about me.

"No, I wasn't," I say. She lets out a breath.

"Good, we'll be down in a second," She closes the door in my face.

"Nice way to be subtle, Chris. She's gonna know we were talking about her!" Four says through the wall. I was right. I walk back down the stairs to the kitchen. Could I have really made that bad of an impression that they dislike me after two days. I put a piece of toast on a plate and eat alone at the table, feeling bad about myself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, that was chapter three. I don't really know why I'm updating since no one really reads this, but if you do, please tell me what you think!!  
> ~Isabel


	4. Chapter 4

Chris and Four walk down the stairs to join me a few minutes later. Four still avoids my eyes.

"Mmm, what did you cook, Chef Tris?" Chris says.

"French toast," I say. Four comes and sits next to me.

"Why did you start eating without us?" he says. I shrug and stuff a bite into my mouth. "Come one, no one wants to eat alone," I keep eating without looking at him. "Did I do something wrong, Tris?" he says quietly. I turn and stare into his eyes, searching for something, anything. They remain blank. I shrug and stuff more food in my mouth. "Hey, look at me," he says. He cups my face in one hand and holds my hand with the fork in it with the other. "Seriously what did I do?" I search his eyes again. They're a little less blank this time. We look at each other for a while before I break away. I grab my plate and stand up.

"I'm done eating," I put my plate on the counter, walking pass Christina on the way into the kitchen. I walk briskly up the stairs, despite hearing her call after me. I flop on to my bed, lying face down. I feel like a teenager again. A whiny, annoying, won't-face-her-feelings teenager. I don't exactly know what made me so mad at Four. I'm not, really. I'm more mad at myself. Why did I think moving to a new city would be fun and exciting? I thought I would get a new start, but clearly I'm only getting a bad one. I sit up and take a few deep breaths. I won't cry. I can't cry. Not here, not now. I press the palms of my hands into my eyes when I here a soft knock on the door.

"Tris?" Four says quietly. "Can I come in?" I don't say anything. He opens the door and pokes his head in. I look down at my lap. "Tris, please. What did I do wrong?" He sits next to me on the bed.

"Nothing," I say.

"I must have done something. Please, tell me," he pleas.

"Do you hate me?" I say, my eyes watering. He looks really surprised. His mouth opens a few times but he closes it, not saying anything. "You do, don't you? I'm sorry, I'll leave," I get up and start for the door but Four grabs my wrist and stands right I front of me. I look down at my feet.

"Why would you possibly think that I hate you?" he asks quietly. He puts two fingers under my chin and lifts my head up.

"Because I heard you and Chris talking," A look of horror passes his face, but it's gone just as quickly as it came. "She seemed so relieved when I told her I hadn't heard your conversation, and you were so mad at her. For saying that. You wouldn't be like that if you weren't saying anything but something bad," I say. He pulls me into his chest and wraps his strong arms around me.

"Oh, Tris. I don't hate you. Maybe one day I'll tell you what we were talking about, but today is not that day," He pulls back to look at me. "I don't have you. It's actually the opposite. I like you, and I think we'll be good friends. You already know things about me that others don't," he says. I nod.

"I'm sorry," I whisper.

"For what?"

"For crying, and overreacting, and just being annoying," I say.

"Don't apologize. You're in a new place. It can be intimidating, I know. Everyone wants to be liked," he says, a half smile playing on his lips.

"I thought you've lived in San Francisco your whole life," I say.

"The Bay Area, actually. I've lived in Marin, Oakland, Berkeley, and lots of other places. I switched schools each year until high school," he says.

"I didn't know that," I say

. "Most people don't," he replies.

"So does that mean I know two secrets about you?" I say. He nods.

"We're going to do something fun, okay? To boost our knowledge of each other. Are you doing anything today?" he asks.

"No, I don't think so," I say. He grabs my hand and pulls me toward the door.

"Good. We're going on a picnic. Grab some food, a basket and a blanket," he says. I laugh.

"Alrighty then," we walk downstairs and I go to the kitchen to pack some food.

"Hey Chris, can I borrow her for a few hours?" Four says.

"Where are you going?" she asks.

"Baker beach," he says. I have no idea where that is, but I've never been to a beach before.

"Okay. Don't do anything I wouldn't do," She winks at me and we leave the house.

[page break]

The beach that we go to is small and few people are there. We walk to the far end, really close to the golden gate bridge. We climb up a small hill and sit at the top, and he starts to lay out the blanket.

"This is amazing. It's just so huge. How does it even hold so much water and so many animals?" I say I look down at him sitting on the blanket.

"You've never seen the ocean before, have you?" he asks. I shake my head and sit down next to him.

"Only in pictures," I say. Tobias I watch as Tris looks over the ocean.

"I just don't understand," she whispers. She glances back at me. "How does it hold that much water?"

"Think of it this way. This entire planet is just water, with a couple of places when the bottom of the ocean emerges out of the surface. We're tiny little animals, running around on that ocean bottom, killing each other and loving each other, getting drunk off rotten fruits. We mean nothing to this earth. We mean nothing to the ocean. The ocean will swallow you up and eat you whole, for all it cares," I say. She turns back and stares into my eyes for a little bit.

"Wow," she says. I look down at my lap. "That was beautiful, Four," I look up at her to see she's already looking back at the ocean. The way the sun is hitting her makes her look breathtaking. I don't think she knows how absolutely stunning she is. I pull some food out of the bag we brought and make a sandwich.

"Want one?" I ask.

"Sure, thanks," she says. She takes the sandwich and takes a bite. I make another one and eat it myself.

"So, tell me ten facts about yourself," I say. "You know, so we can know each other better,"

"Okay. One, I was born and lived my whole life in Chicago. Two, flying here was the first time I'd even been on a plane. Three, my middle name is Julia. Four, my favorite color is dark blue. Five, I slept with a nightlight 'till I was nine. Six, I don't like tomatoes. Seven, my birthday is June 6th. Eight, I don't like fish. Nine, I've never left the country. And ten, if I could go anywhere, it would be London or L.A." she say. "Your turn,"

"Okay. One, I was actually born in Australia. Two, I moved here when I was three. Three, my middle name is Seth. Four, my nickname is Four because it was my college football number. Five, my birthday is June 7th," I say. "Really? We basically have the same birthday." she say.

"You still have five more facts to go," I shake my head.

"I don't have anymore facts," I say.

"You must have more to say," I shake my head."Okay, for starters, what's your name? Thats a simple enough question, right?" I could tell her that my name is Tobias. She won't know that I'm the governor's son. Most people don't know he has a son, anyway. I could tell her the way he used to beat me. The way he used to beat my mom before she left, I could tell her, but I won't.

"I've known you for a week. No one knows my name, not even people I've known for years," I say seriously.

"Oh. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to get up in your business," she say.

"No, it's not your fault. How were you supposed to know?" I say. She shrugs.

"I still can't get over how amazingly beautiful the view is from here," Tris says. I look at her. She gazes out to the horizon, her mouth slightly open. I stare at the side of her face.

"Yeah," I say, not taking my eyes off her. "It is."

[page break]

We sit on the hill and look out over the ocean for a few hours until the sun sets.

"Thank you, Four. This was amazing," Tris says.

"No problem. And don't call me Four. It doesn't sound right coming from you," I say.

"Well if I can't call you Four and you won't tell me your name, what am I supposed to call you?" she says. I smirk.

"Nothing yet," I stand up and hold my hand out for her.

"We should get back before the sun sets," I say.

"Okay," She starts to walk down the hill when she steps on a loose rock. She screams and starts to slip.

"Tris!" I run down the hill and stop next to her, I grab both her arms and pull her into me. I wrap my arms around her. "Are you okay?" She nods.

"I think so," I grab her hand and we walk down together. When we get back onto the flat beach, she brushes the sand off of her pants and shirt. "Thank you,"

"For?" I ask.

"Saving me. And bringing me here," she says.

"You would have been fine without me," I say. "And I like bringing you places. It's fun for both of us,"

"Well, thank you anyway," We walk back to the car and I drop her off at her house.

"Bye, Four. I'll see you soon?" she says.

"I have to work this week, but I think I'm off early on Wednesday. I can find some time," I say, smirking. She blushes.

"Don't take time off work for me. We can always wait till next weekend,"

"Well, Trissy darling, next weekend is five days away, and that is at least four more day than I'd like, but I'm willing to wait until Wednesday," I say. She laughs.

"Very Augustus Waters of you," she says. "I'll text you. I have work too, I guess, but I think Max will let me miss a few hours," I nod.

"I'll see you soon," She gets out of the car and waves to me as I drive off. I pull into my garage and walk up the stairs into my house. I take off my shirt and put on a pair of basket ball shorts and get into bed early and read for a while.

~Wednesday~

When I get out of work at 1:30, I text Tris.

Off of work. Are you at home or at the café?

Sorry, Four. I'm bed-ridden with diseases. I can't go out.

I'll be there in 15 minutes with soup.

I'll get you sick, Four.

I don't care.

I put my phone back in my pocket and drive to the nearest super market. I buy some chicken soup and a balloon that says get well soon. I also buy a bar of chocolate for good measure. I head to the check out counter to buy my items.

"Got a sick girlfriend?" the cash register guy says.

"Something like that, yeah," I say, pulling out my credit card.

"She'll appreciate it if she's a good girlfriend. I used to do stuff like this for my ex, but she always would yell at me for disturbing her peace," he says.

"Sorry, man. That sucks," He nods. I pay and leave the store. I drive to Tris' house and let myself in. Chris isn't home yet, so I make my way up to Tris' room. I knock lightly on the door.

"Tris?" I say softly. "Can I come in?" I hear some coughing and she moans.

"Come in," I open the door to see her lying in bed with her laptop open next to her, tissues thrown around the room. She has a pained look on her face.

"Aw, Tris. You look miserable," I sit next to her on the bed.

"Words every girl strives to hear," she says with a weak smile. "I feel pretty crappy,"

"I brought you some soup, a balloon, and some chocolate. I'm gonna get you some water," I say. I leave the room and fill a glass with cold water I bring it back to her.

"Thank you," I hand her the glass. "Ooh, that's to cold. It feels nice," She holds it up to her forehead.

"Do you have a fever?" I put the back of my hand to her neck lightly. She's burning up. "Oh, my god, Tris. You're really hot,"

"Thanks, Four," she says with a smirk.

"That's not what I meant, but that too," I say. Her face turns even more red. "Maybe you shouldn't be under the thick comforter," I suggest.

"Okay, but would you give me a bit of privacy for a second?" she says shyly. I start to think of what she might be wearing under the covers that she doesn't want me to see, or maybe not wearing.

"Yeah, of course," I stand up and go in the hall, closing the door behind me. After a few minutes, she calls to me to come in. She's wearing short shorts and a white tank top. I can see her tattoo below the bottom of her shorts and the ravens on her collar bone. "That tattoo really is exquisite," I say.

"Thanks. It was your idea," I smile.

"Will you pass me the soup?" I hand her the warm soup on her bedside table. She eats it slowly.

"Do you need anything, anything at all?" I ask.

"I think I'm okay, thanks though," She puts the soup back once she's done eating it. "You should go. I don't want you to get sick,"

"I'm fine. Anyway, if I get sick, I can take a few days off of work," I say. "Wanna play a game?"

"Like a board game?" she asks. I nod. "They're downstairs, and I don't think I can get out of bed,"

"I'll carry you," I say. She laughs.

"Okay," I put on hand underneath her knees and she wraps her arms around my neck. It feels good to have her so close to me. Maybe I like her. I've never had a real crush on anyone, so I don't know. But I look at her differently. And when I touched her skin at the tattoo shop and in the car, it felt different. She's interesting, and funny, and beautiful. I feel like I can open up to her more than anyone else. But for now I have to keep my feelings in check. We're just friends. I set her down on the couch, my body feeling cold without her pressed up against me. I go to the closet and pull out Sorry. I set it up on the table.

"Ooh, I love this game," Tris says. I smile. Her excitement is adorable. She coughs into her elbow a few times. We play the game for a while, and I win. She glares at me and throws a piece at my head. It hits me right above my eyebrow.

"That's what you get for cheating!" she says. I laugh.

"I did not cheat, Tris. You're just sad that you lost," I say. She yawns.

"I'm tired. I was up most of last night coughing," she says. I walk around the kitchen table and sit next to her on the couch, as close as two friends would.

"I really do hope you feel better," I say to her. She scoots a little closer to me and rests her head on my shoulder. Her side is pressed right up against mine.

"Thank you," she whispers. I can tell she's tired. I put my arm around her shoulders and rub in small circles.

"Tobias," I whisper.

"What?" She takes her head off my shoulder to look up at me.

"Tobias is my name."

"Thank you for telling... Me that," she says while yawning.

"Of course, Tris. But only call me that when we're alone, okay?" She nods her head and rests in back on my shoulder,  but I know she's too far gone for me to answer.


	5. Chapter 5

Tris I wake to a hand clamped over my mouth. I jerk awake to see Chris right next to me, holding me down. I reach up to tear her hand off my face.

"What the hell, Chris!" I say.

"Shhhh!" She points to Four, who is sleeping peacefully next to me. Somehow we managed to lie down after I fell asleep on his shoulder. His arms are wrapped around me.

"What time is it?" I whisper.

"It's 7:00 A.M." she says. I get up from Four's arms. I pull her into the kitchen.

"Why did you wake me up? I don't have work today," I say, once I know we won't wake Four up.

"Want to explain why I woke up to find you and Eaton _spooning_ on my couch?" she says.

"We were not spooning. We were playing a board game and then we fell asleep," I say. I have a vague memory of Four telling me his name. Must have been a dream.

"You most certainly were spooning," she says.

"Whatever," I try to leave the kitchen, but she grabs my wrist.

"When are you going to admit that you like him?'' she says. I don't like him that way. Or, at least I think I don't.

"I don't like him like that, Chris," I say.

"You're not fooling anyone," she says. "I'm thinking of having the whole group over Friday night for a barbecue, okay?"

"That's fine with me. I have work off today, so I can go to the store to get anything we need," I say.

"That'd be great. All we need is turkey and beef, buns, and some condoms for you and Four," she says with a grin. I blush like crazy.

"Chris! Shut up before he wakes up and hears you!" I scream-whisper.

"What is this about me?" Four says groggily, walking into the kitchen. He yawns and scratches his stomach. I look at Chris, horrified. She starts to laugh really hard.

"Oh, god. Four, I'm sorry I'm gonna just... Ugh!" I mumble, not sure what to say.

"I didn't hear your conversation, don't worry," he says. He goes to the pantry and pulls out a box of pop tarts. I guess when you're as fit as him, you can eat whatever you want. He winks at me, which makes me think that his previous statement is untrue.

"We're having a barbecue on Friday," Chris says once she's done laughing.

"I heard that part," he says, sneaking a look at me. My face falls. He must have heard what Chris said after that. Chris starts laughing again, and my face heats up so much.

"I'm gonna leave now," I say. I run back up to my room. God, that was so embarrassing. I can still hear her laughing from downstairs; the walls are very thin in this house. I can hear most of their conversation.

"You heard what I said about you and her, didn't you?" Chris says.

"Yeah," he replies. Oh god, oh god. "It's kinda cute how embarrassed she gets,"

"You love her," Ugh, she not only does it to me, but to him too.

"I like her, I don't know if I would say I love her, though," I feel bad for listening into their conversation, so I put in my headphones. I can still hear noises, I just can't understand what they're saying. A few minutes later, I hear a knock on my door.

"Tris, I'm coming in," Four says before opening my door.

"What's the point of knocking if you're going to come in anyways?" I say. He sits down on the bed next to me.

"I heard what Christina said, just by the way," he says. I blush. "We don't have to let her make things awkward between us, do we?" I shake my head. "Good," he puts his hand on my knee. It's a friendly gesture, but I wish it was maybe something more.

"You're coming on Friday, right?" I ask.

"I wouldn't miss it. I have Friday off work, actually. I don't know what your schedule is, though," he says.

"I work full day Monday and Tuesday, I have half day on Wednesday and Friday, and Thursdays are off," I say.

"Ok. I have half days on Wednesdays and Fridays off, but really I can take any day I want off, if I really need it," he says. It's probably because he owns his own company.

"Wanna help me shop for barbecue supplies tomorrow?" I ask.

"Oh, so we are buying those supplies," he says with a smirk and a wink. I blush and hide my face in my hands.

"Oh, god! That's not what I meant! I meant to get hotdogs and patties and buns!" I say. He laughs and puts his arm around me, shaking my shoulders.

"Come one, Tris, it was a joke. Loosen up," he says. I look back up at him. I giggle.

"I'm not planning on having sex with you anytime soon, Four," I say.

"Oh really? So you were planning on waiting until later to have sex with me. How thoughtful," he teases. I blush and giggle more,

"That's not what I meant either," I say.

"I know. I like to tease you. You know you can call me by my real name when we're alone," he says. So that wasn't a dream.

"Tobias?" I say. He nods. "Okay, I kinda thought that was a dream," He laughs.

"No, that was real,"

"Thank you for telling me that. I know most people don't know your name, and now you're telling me after just barely over a week. I'm honored, Tobias," I say.

"I don't know why I told you, honestly. It just felt right. It's nice to hear it again, and it's especially nice coming from you," His dark blue eyes stare into my dull gray ones. After a few moments, Christina walks through the door. We immediately break our stare.

"Eaton, don't you have to get going to work soon?" Chris says.

"Uh, Yeah, I do. Are you feeling better, Tris?" Tobias says.

"Yeah, much better, thanks," I say.

"Good. I'll see you guys tomorrow for the barbecue," He gets up and walks out the door. Chris comes and sits next to me, right where Tobias had been.

"What was that?" she asks.

"What was what?" I say, though I know I what she's talking about. I saw the way he was just looking at me. I don't know what it was, but it was something.

"Don't play stupid, Tris. What were

you doing up here?" she says. "Nothing. We were just talking," I say.

"More like staring into each other's eyes like a prince and princess in a fairy tale," she says.

"Shut up, we're just friends,"

"Okay, whatever you say, Tris," she says in a sing-song voice. She leaves my room. My phone buzzes, and I see that I have two new voice mails. I call it. The first message is from a telemarketer, so I delete it. The second is from Caleb. It's nice to hear his voice, even if it's just a recording.

"Hey, Beatrice. It's Caleb. Um, I was wondering if there was anytime I could come out and see you. I know you want to end your old live or whatever, but I miss you, despite it only being a month since you left. Call me back, bye." I hang up from voicemail and dial his number.

"Hi, Caleb," I say into the phone.

"Beatrice! It's so nice to hear from you," he says.

"Yeah, you too. I just got your voice mail, and I would love it if you came out to visit. I could also go back there, too,"

"I kind of want to go to California anyway. Are there any dates that I could fly out?"

"I'm not really doing much. You can come out whenever you'd like."

"Okay, good. Have you made any friends?"

"Yeah, I have. I found a roommate, Christina. She's very nice. I'm friends with all of her friends."

"That's good. Do you have a boyfriend?" There's the overprotective Caleb that I know.

"Caleb, I just got here. I don't have a boyfriend," I say, sighing.

"Any friends that are boys?"

"Yes, Caleb, I do."

"Are they dangerous? Tattoos, piercings, gangs?" I laugh.

"None of my friends have piercings or are in gangs."

"So they have tattoos."

"Yes, Caleb, some of them do,"

"You shouldn't be hanging out with guys with tattoos," he says. I wonder what he would think if i told him I have a tattoo.

"I'm not going to listen to you, you know that, right?"

"When do you ever? Anyway, I gotta go. Be safe, Beatrice," He hangs up the phone. Chris pops her head into my room.

"Who's Caleb?" she asks.

"Jesus, Chris. How long have you been listening?" I say.

"Long enough. Who's Caleb?" she repeats.

"My brother."

"Oh. That's boring. Anyway, I'm off to work. Are you planning on staying in today?" she asks.

"Yeah, I think so."

"Okay. I'll see you at around four," She leaves my room and closes the door.

~Friday~

Tobias

I knock on Tris' door, picking her up to go food shopping. She answers the door wearing a navy blue dress that goes to her knees.

"Hey, Tris. You ready to go?" She nods. "Your ride await, miss," I say, gesturing to my mustang and she laughs. I place my hand on her back and lead her to my car. My fingers brush against her skin through a small opening in the back of her dress. Her skin is warm and inviting. I sigh and drop my hand to open the door for her. I walk around to my side and pull out of her driveway as she reads off the list of things we need.

"We need turkey, beef, hotdogs, buns, and candy. Sound good?" she says. She looks at me as if she expects me to make a comment about the condoms, but I don't.

"Yep," I reply. When we get to the store, Tris grabs a cart and starts to walk through the isles.

"I'll find meant. Will you find buns?" I ask. She nods and takes the cart away from me. I go to the meat isle and grab ground turkey and beef. I also grab some pulled pork because I know it's Zeke's favorite. I start to walk down the isle to find Tris until I hear a shriek. I turn around quickly to see Tris standing on the back of the cart and riding toward me, giggling like crazy. Right when she passes me, I wrap one arm around her waist, pulling her off of the cart, stopping it with my other hand. She continues giggling.

"You're such a child," I say, smiling down at her. My arm is still wrapped around her, pressing her against my side.

"There's no point of being grown up if you can't be childish sometimes," she says. I remove my arm from her and she takes a deep breath.

"Did you get the bread at least?" I ask.

"Yeah. I got twelve hamburger buns and twelve hotdog buns. I figured I'd get extra because we have a lot of people-" She is cut off by someone calling her name. We both turn around and I see a man who looks about her age with dark brown hair. I look down at Tris and see that she has a horrified look on her face that makes my heart hurt. What could he have done to make her so afraid?

" _Peter_?" she says with disbelief. "What the hell are you doing in San Francisco?"

"I was about to ask you the same thing. How have you been?" he says as if they're good friends. He takes a step toward her and she instinctively takes a step away from him, backing into the cart.

"Who are you?" he asks, looking at me. I lace my fingers with Tris'.

"I'm Tris' boyfriend, who are you?" I lie. I look down at her, but her eyes stay locked on Peter.

"I'm an old friends from Tris' high school. We were really close, right Tris?" he says. She squeezes her eyes shut.

"Peter, can you just leave?" she says.

"Aw, come on, Tris. It's been a while. We should catch up," he says with a mischievous smile. Tris tightens her grip on my hand.

"Four, can we go? Please?" she says quietly to me. I nod.

"Well, Peter, we have to go. Bye," I say, turning on my heels. I go straight towards the check out, away from Peter, and we get in line.

"You can go wait in the car if you want, Tris," I say. She looks around nervously.

"No. Um, the last thing I want is to be alone with him anywhere near me," she says. My hand is still. Wrapped around hers. I rub small circles on her knuckles.

"Okay."

We drive most of the way back in silence before she breaks it.

"We didn't get candy," she blurts out.

"That is why we're going to Walgreens," I say. She doesn't talk for the rest of the ride.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There we go, kind of a short chapter. I want to thank you for all of your nice comments! It might not seem like much, but it means a lot to me. I will try to update once or twice a week, but no promises.   
> ~Isabel


	6. Chapter 6

Tris

I go straight to the couch when we get back home.Tobias goes to the kitchen to unload the food before coming to sit next to me. I stare at the blank T.V. 

"Do you wanna watch T.V.?" he ask. I nod vigorously and turn it on. A commercial plays, but I don't change it. I don't really care what we watch, I just hope he doesn't bring up Peter. I'm not sure I want to talk about that now. I can feel him staring at the side of my face, but I don't take my eyes off the screen. I think about my high school years and immediately have to blink back tears. 

"Tris?" Tobias whispers tenderly. I don't know why, but this makes something snap inside of me. I am hit by a wave of sadness, and when I open my mouth to speak, a sob escapes instead. Before I know it, tears are streaming down my face. Tobias puts one arm under my knees and crosses my legs over his lap. He puts a strong arm behind my back to support me and my arms go around his neck. I cry into his shoulder. 

"Shhh, Tris, it's okay. You're fine, it's okay," he soothes. After I've cried as much as I can, I remove my head from his chest and wipe my eyes. I don't look at his eyes. "Tris, what happened?" Tobias says. I know I won't be able to tell this story without crying again, but I start anyways. 

"I didn't have the best time in high school," I say. "I was bullied a lot, and Peter was the leader of it. My freshman and sophomore year, it was mostly just bad name calling and lunches dumped on my head. He turned my friends against me, I ate in the bathroom almost everyday, and even then I was still harassed. People would throw their food over the stall door so it would hit me," My voice cracks and I bite my lip as my eyes water. "Then, my first day of junior year, Peter pulled me into a janitor's closet. He beat me until I was unconscious, and I probably would have died if the janitor hadn't found me. He took me to a hospital and I convinced him not to tell my parents. He never did, and they still don't know about any of this. 

"His beatings became more and more frequent; in the cafeteria, in closets, in the bathroom. He didn't care, as long as I was getting hurt, he was happy. I was so excited to finally get out of there by graduation time. My mom convinced me to go to the party afterwards, and I finally gave in after all my attempts at protest. She bought me this really nice dress, and I loved it. It was the only time I had ever felt pretty before. I wore the dress to the party, and I didn't see Peter for most of the night. Then, he grabbed me and pulled me into the bathroom. He tore the whole front of my dress open, and I'm guessing he would have done more, but he didn't get the chance. I kicked him in the balls and ran away. I never saw him again until today," By now, tears are streaming steadily down my face. Tobias pulls me closer to him. I sniffle and pull my head back to look at him. His shirt has a large wet spot on it. "Sorry for ruining your shirt," I say. He laughs a little.

"My shirt is the least of my concerns right now," he says. "Peter is stupid, and he's not worth thinking about. I know it hurts, I know. I didn't have too great of a time when I was a teenager too, but it's in the past. I can beat him up for you, if it'll make you feel better." I laugh weakly. 

"Go ahead, Tobias. He deserves some pain," I say. I rest my head back on his chest. A few more tears fall. Suddenly the door flies open. "The party has arrived!" Uriah yells as he walks in with Zeke, Shauna, and Marlene. 

"Goddamnit," I whisper, frantically trying to wipe the tears from my face, I sit up from Tobias stand up. I hope it's not too obvious that I've been crying. 

"What the hell is going on in here?" Zeke says. I walk around the couch to greet them. 

"Tris?" Marlene says slowly. "Are you high?" My hands shoot up to my eyes. Is it really that bad?

"No! Of course not," I say.

"That means you've been crying," Shauna adds. I look at my feet and don't say anything. 

"Oh, my god, Tris, are you okay?" Marlene and Shauna rush to my side. Uriah and Zeke go over to Tobias. 

"I'm fine," I say. "Can you just not tell Chris about this please?" They both nod. "Thank you." 

"Sorry, but can we break up this girl fest and start the party?" Zeke yells. 

"It's not a party, Zeke, it's a barbecue," I say, laughing. With my friends here, all my Peter Problems fell as if they've melted away. 

"It's a welcoming party. We do this with everyone who wants to join our group. Marlene was the last to join. It's an initiation of sorts," Uriah says. "It's a lot less scary than it's sounds," 

"I'm gonna go watch T.V. before Chris and Will come," Shauna says. Everyone goes to join her, but Tobias stays back. 

"You okay, Tris?" he asks. 

"Yeah, I'm okay. I feel better now that everyone's here," I say.

"Good." 

[page break] Only thirty minutes after Will and Christina get here, this "party" is in full swing. Everyone but me has a drink in their hand, the meat is cooking out back, and Marlene and Uriah are making out on the couch. After a while of chatting and hanging out, Chris calls us all into the living room. 

"Now that you're all here, you're not allowed to leave, in exception of Zeke and Eaton, who can go check on our food when it's done. Arrange yourselves in a circle," she says. We all sit in a circle, me in between Tobias and Uriah. "We are going on a trip back to middle school," Uriah groans.

"I was the most annoying kid in middle school," he says. Zeke laughs. 

"You've got that right." Uriah slaps him on the arm, leaning over Marlene. 

"Whatever. First, we're going to play suck and blow. Now this is a really simple game-" She is cut off by Marlene. 

"Ugh, we know, can you just get a paper?" she says. 

"Wait, I don't know the rules," I say, but by the name, it sounds dirty. Christina laughs. 

"It's really easy. You have to keep a paper on your mouth by sucking in, then you pass it around the circle. Of you drop it, then you kiss the person next to you. Sound good?" I nod. She leaves to get a paper, and I realize that I'm sitting next to Tobias. I don't want to kiss him or Uriah, at least not like this. But then again, it might feel nice to have with soft, full lips against mine... 

My thoughts are interrupted when Chris comes back to the circle. She places the paper to her lips and passes it to Will, who passes it to Marlene. She passes it to Uriah, and he turns to me. He leans in and pushes the paper against my lips, blowing at just the right moment. I turn to Tobias. I just have to not drop it. I press my lips against his,came thankfully the paper stays. We lock eyes for a second and it takes all I have not to blush. He takes it and continues passing it to Shauna. It makes it all the way around without it being dropped. 

"Well, that was boring. Whatever next game. We're going to pass this stuffed animal around the circle and everyone has to kiss it. You can't kiss it where someone else has kissed," she says, holding up a pink hippo. "That's all the information you get for now," 

"Ooh, I know this one," Zeke says.

"Don't say anything," Chris says. She kisses the hippo on the hand and hands it to Zeke. He kisses it wheee it boob would be, if it had boobs. He gives it to Shauna, who kisses it on the foot. Tobias kisses it on the lips and hands it to me. I think for a second and kiss it on the other hand. Uriah kisses it on the top of the head, Marlene on the back, and Will on the stomach. 

"Okay, now that that's done, now we go around and you have to kiss the person to your right in the same spot where you kissed the hippo," Chris says. I think about that. That means I have to kiss Uriah on the hand, not too bad, and Tobias has to kiss me... On the lips. I had thought about us kissing before, and I expected that our first one would be... Not part of a stupid game. Chris would never let me get out of this one. 

"You knew!" Shauna yells at Zeke. "You kissed it on the boob just so you could kiss me there, didn't you?" Zeke shrugs and grins. 

"Nicely played, bro," Uriah says. Marlene hits him on the arm. I look up to see Chris staring at me with a grin on her face. I glare at her, and the smile drops off her face. I can feel Tobias look at me, but I don't turn to look back at him. I direct my stare back to my lap. Everyone kisses around the circle, and I don't really pay attention until it's my turn. Tobias and I turn to face each other. Then his lips are on mine. He pecks mine and leans back on his hands. It was nice and sweet, but entirely too short. Chris says something, but I can't hear her over the sound of my heart pumping in my ears. I turn and kiss Uriah on the hand. After everyone's done, Chris finally says something. 

"That was adorable!" Her eyes move form me to Tobias. 

"It's just a game," I say, rolling my eyes, though sometimes I wish it weren't. 

"Tris, have you drank anything yet?" Zeke asks me. I shake my head. "We should play a drinking game." 

"I don't really feel like drinking," I say.

"Oh, come on, Tris. Live a little," Tobias says, pushing my arm a bit. 

"Fine, whatever. Let's play," I say. Uriah cheers and stands up to get drinks. He comes back with a bunch of full beer bottles. He hands them out to each of us. 

"What are we playing?" Will asks.

"We should play truth or dare," Uriah says. Marlene groans. 

"What are you, twelve?" she says.

"And a half," he replies, giving her a kiss on the nose. "But besides, it's a trip back to middle school." 

"I'm fine with that. Sip or strip if you don't want to answer, though," Chris says. "I'll go first. Tris, truth or dare?" Ugh, I knew she would pick me first. 

"Um, dare?" I say. 

"Good. I dare you to do a belly dance," she says. 

"I don't know how to belly dance!" I say. She shrugs.

"Do it anyway," I stand up and go to the center of the circle. I lift my arms in the air and move my hips and stomach around. I sit down after ten seconds. Everyone looks at me expectantly.

"Oh, is it my turn?" They all nod. 

"Okay, um, Marlene, truth or dare?" 

"Dare," she says confidently. 

"Call Uriah's mom and tell her she needs to loose weight," I say. She looks horrified. I hand her my phone so there won't be caller I.D. Uriah types in the number and puts it on speaker. 

"Hello?" Uriah's mom says through the phone. 

"Hi, uh, I just wanted to tell you that you need to loose weight," she says. Uriah's mom doesn't say anything for a little bit. The rest of the group is trying not to laugh. 

"Who is this?" 

"Uh, it's Marlene," she says.

"You weren't supposed to say your name," Chris whispers loudly. I'm guessing Uriah's mom can hear all of this.

"Marlene?" she sounds surprised that Marlene would be the one to do this. "It was a dare. I'm so sorry, Hana!" Marlene says quickly before hanging up. She puts her head in her hands. "Why did you make me do that? She's going to hate me now," she mumbles. Uriah puts his arm around her shoulders. 

"She won't hate you," He kisses her on the cheek. "Anyway, it's your turn," 

"I would ask you back, but that's not allowed. So, Zeke, truth or dare?" she says. 

"Dare!" he yells. He's already pretty drunk, so who knows what he'll do. 

"I dare you to swap clothes with Christina and stay like that," she says. He shrugs and he and Chris leave the circle. They both come back, but this time Zeke is wearing Chris' tight black dress and high heel, whereas she is wearing baggy jeans and a huge shirt. We all laugh at them. 

"Okay, um, Four, T or D?" Zeke slurs.

"Truth," Tobias says calmly. He doesn't seem to be very intoxicated, despite having a few drinks. 

"You're such a pansycake," Uriah says. 

"What's a pansy cake?" I ask. 

"It's some stupid insult that no one uses," Marlene says.

"No one uses it because it's so bad!" Uriah says.

"No, no one uses it because it's stupid. Get on with the game," Marlene says.

"What's your real name?" Zeke asks. I look at him, wondering if he will tell everyone. I'm guessing not. He takes a huge swig of his beer, which I presume means he doesn't have to answer. People break out in complaints. 

"Whatever," he says. "Shauna, your turn." 

"Truth," she says. "How old were you when you lost your virginity?" Tobias asks.

"17," she says without hesitation.

"Will, truth or dare?"

"Uh, dare," he says. Shauna grins. 

"Let Chris do your makeup," Chris squeals. She pulls Will into the bathroom. They come out ten minutes later. Will had foundation smeared all over his face, heavy winged eyeliner around his eyes, bright pink blush, and red lipstick. Zeke pulls out his phone and takes a picture. Will rubs at his face, smearing the dark black lines down his face. Chris groans. They sit back down and Will continues the game. "Tris, truth or dare?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was originally really long, so I cut it in two. I will try to have the next section up by Saturday or Sunday. Keep the comments coming!! They make me happy to read. Thank you for reading!!!!  
> ~Isabel


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry for saying I would update this weekend and not doing it! I have been so busy with books and tv shows and work that it completely slipped my mind. I guess there are some suggestive themes is this chapter, but nothing actually happens. Anyway, here is chapter 7.

_"Tris, truth or dare?"_

"Uh, truth, I guess," I say, not really feeling like doing a dare.

"Describe your first time. _In detail_ ," Will says. I think choosing truth was worse than any dare. I pinch the bridge of my nose.

"You don't have to do it," Tobias says. "You could sip or strip."

"No, it's okay. Um, I was seventeen. The boy, Luke, was my middle school crush. I liked him for so long, and he was really, really hot. It was junior year, and he asked me out. We went on a few dates, and we got closer and closer. Then, one day, he took me to a really fancy restaurant and back to his house. And... Yeah," I say.

"Continue," Will says.

"I have to say more?" Will nods. "Okay um. We were kissing and it just kind of escalated. It was very tender, and he was very good to me. It was okay."

"Just okay?" Chris asks. "Did it hurt?"

"Actually, it didn't," I say. I feel a bit uncomfortable talking about this with the boys around. "Can we change the subject?"

"Fine. It's your turn, Tris," Will say.

"Um, Four, truth or dare?" I actually have no ideas for a truth or for a dare.

"Dare," he says. I think my friends know that I have no idea what to say, so Uriah leans over and whispers a suggest in my ear.

"Um, okay. Do fifteen shots," I say.

"Of?" I've noticed that he does these little one word questions a lot.

"Oh, I don't know. Vodka? Tequila?" I say. Maybe not tequila.

"I know we have vodka, so you can have that," Chris says. Tobias goes to the kitchen and gets the alcohol from the freezer.

"You only have five shot glasses, so I need someone to refill the ones I drink," Tobias yells. I get up and go to the kitchen.

"Hi," I say when I get there.

"Thanks for making me do this," he says sarcastically. "Now I'm gonna be totally drunk,"

"I'm sorry. It wasn't my idea. I'll take a few of the shorts if you want," I suggest.

"No, then Zeke and Uriah would be mad at me for cheating or whatever. Thanks anyway," he says. I nod I grab the bottle. Tobias positions himself in front of the first shot.

"One, two, three, go!" I say. He starts taking the shots as fast as he can. I fill each glass as soon as he's done with it. After he's done with all of them, he stands back up and walks unsteadily back to the circle. He stumbles a few times, so I hook my arm in his and help him back.

"My turn. Zeke, truth or truth?" he slurs.

"Dare," he says slowly. "Dare is one of the options too, Four,"

"Really?" he says to me. I nod. "Okay. I dare you to sit in Bill's lap."

"I'm assuming you mean Will," He gets up and sits on his lap. The groan and take a few minutes to readjust themselves.

"Hey, Four. Plug your ears for a moment," Zeke says.

"Why?" he asks. "Because we're talking about your Christmas presents, now plug your ears," Tobias' eyes light up, and he plugs his ears and hums a song. I laugh. It's funny to see him like this. "Okay, what were gonna do is: everyone pick him for the truths and dares. I know you can't do that, but he's to drunk to remember the rules." I'm pretty sure that's not grammatically correct, but he's drunk too.

"I don't understand," Marlene says.

"Like, now I'm going to dare him back," Zeke says. Marlene nods. "Okay, I understand."

"Four, you can unplug your ears now," Zeke yells. He puts his hands down in his lap. "So, Four, truth or dare?"

"The first one," he mumbles.

"What's your real name?" Oh, no. I hope he's not too drunk to remember not to tell them.

"Can I not say, 'cause I honestly don't remember," he asks. I'm glad he's not going to say.

"I think you've had a little too much to sip, so you can strip," Shauna says. He grabs his shirt and pulls it over his head. Only after it's off do I think of his tattoos. I quickly pull off my jacket and cover his back. There's nothing I can really do about the flames though.

"Hey, Tris, you can't cover him. That's against the rules," Chris says.

"So is daring someone back," I point out. "I just don't want him to do something he will regret."

"Four, what the hell is that?" Uriah screams, pointing at his visible tattoo. Tobias looks down.

"It's a tattoo," he says.

"How long have you had it?" Chris asks. He shrugs.

"Three or four years?" he says. Chris' eyes snap to mine.

"Did you know about this?" she says viciously.

"Um, maybe?" I say, but it comes out more like a question. Everyone starts talking at once.

"Do you know his name?" Zeke asks.

"Are you two dating?" Shauna chimes in.

"Does he have another one on his back? Is that why you covered him?" Chris asks.

"I don't know his name, we're not dating, and he doesn't have another one," I lie. Tobias looks really confused in all of this commotion.

"Can I go to sleep?" he asks. I nod.

"I'm going to get him to bed," I say. I help him stand up. Numerous complaints break out around the circle.

"It's fine, continue without us." I put his arm around my shoulder in a weak attempt to offer any support. I drag him up the stars and stand him in the middle of my room. I go through my dresser to see if I can find a shirt that will fit him. When I find on and turn around, he is standing not two inches away from me. I gasp in surprise. He puts his arm around my waist and pulls me into his chest.

"Tobias, what are you doing?" I whisper. He leans down and presses his lips to mine. I can taste the liquor on his lips. He wraps another arm around my upper back and kisses me harder. He tongue pushes into my mouth. All my fantasies of him kissing me and washed away by this unpleasant feeling; the roughness and neediness of the kiss, the control that he has over me right now. I pull back and put my forehead on his chest, looking at the floor.

"Stop," I say. He tilts my head up and tries to kiss my again. I put and hand on his chest and step away. "Tobias, this isn't you. You're drunk."

"Please, Tris," he begs. I almost kiss him just because I'd be kissing Tobias, but I'm sure he's much better sober. I wrap my arms around him and give him a hug.

"You don't want me," I whisper. "Your judgement is clouded. I'm not good enough for you."

"You're too good for me. Everyone's too good for me. I'm worthless, and stupid, and a waste of time and energy," he says. I stop hugging him and step back.

"Why would you say something like that? It's not true," I say.

"It is, though. I'm worthless, Tris. I'm stupid and worthless. I shouldn't be alive," A tear slips down his face and I wipe it away.

"No, you're not. You're my best friend since I've been here. You have friends who love you so much. What about your parents?" I say. He scoffs.

"My parents don't love me," he says. He bits his lip.

"I'm sure that's not true, but let's not think about that," I loop my hands back around his neck and he cries in my shoulder.

"If only you knew," he says.

"Shhh, it's okay. We need to get you ready for bed, okay?" He nods and wipes his eyes.

"I'm sorry for putting my mouth against yours," he says.

"Don't worry about that," I say. I take a large shirt and pull it over his head. I remove his socks and shoes while he removes his pants. I lead him to my bed and tuck him in.

"Are you going to me okay?" I ask. He nods. I kiss him on the cheek and start for the door.

"Where are you going?" he asks.

"I was just going to stay in the guest room for tonight," I say.

"Will you stay with me?" he says in an innocent voice.

"Of course, Tobias. Let me just get changed." I say. I don't bother going into my bathroom since I know he won't remember any of this in the morning. I pull my dress and bra off, my back to him.

"You're so beautiful," I hear him whisper. I don't turn around since I'm not wearing a shirt, but my face definitely heats up. I pull a tee shirt over my head and put on short shorts. I climb in to bed with him and rest my head on his chest. He wraps his arm around me.

"You're gorgeous," he whispers. I blush.

"Go to sleep," I whisper back.

"Goodnight, Beatrice," he says.

"Goodnight, Tobias."

~Saturday~

Tobias I wake up with a pounding headache. I rub my temples as I realize that I'm not in my house. What the hell happened last night? I remember playing truth or dare with my friends, but that's it. It's only after I get out of bed that I see that Tris was in bed too. I don't recall her drinking at all last night. Did we... No, she wouldn't have done that. I shake my head and walk downstairs. I get an Advil out of the cupboard and pour myself a glass of water. I look at the wall clock and see that it's almost two. How the hell did everyone sleep that long? Chris comes down a few minutes later, already dressed.

"Hey, Eaton," she says, getting out a box of pancake mix.

"Um, Chris, did Tris and I... You know? Last night?" I ask sheepishly. I rub the back of my neck.

"Unfortunately, no," she says. I let out a big breath. "How long is it going to take you two to stop staring at each other and actually go out?"

"I don't know, Chris. She doesn't like me like that," I say.

"Do you?" I don't respond. "You totally do! Oh my god, that's adorable! You have a crush on Tris!" she yells.

"Will you be quiet? She's gonna come down here any minute now," I say. She smiles. "Can you not tell her though?"

"I won't tell her, I promise. That would just make things awkward between you," she says.

"Thank you," At that moment, Tris walks down the stairs, looking adorable with her messy hair and pajamas.

"Morning, guys. How are you feeling, Four?" she asks.

"I've got a headache, but other than that I feel pretty okay," I say. Normally, I don't throw up from alcohol.

"That's good," she says. She walks over and stands right in front of me. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, why?" I ask.

"You were pretty upset last night. I just want to make sure you're not going to hurt yourself or anything," she says.

"Oh, god, what did I do?" I ask, afraid of the answer.

"It doesn't matter now. All that matters is that you're alright," she says.

"I'm fine, and I'm not planning on hurting myself," I say. She reaches over and squeezes my hand.

"Good," She leaves to go sit with Chris in the living room. I start to think of what I could have said to her. I hope I didn't tell her about Marcus. She probably would have told me if she had. I follow her and sit down.

"I think I'm gonna head home soon," I say.

"Okay, but first, you guys gave to tell me everything that happened last night!" Chris says.

"I don't remember anything, so ask Tris," I say. We both turn to look at her. I want to know what happened too.

"Nothing happened. We went upstairs and went to bed. He just didn't want to sleep alone," Tris says.

"Are you sure he didn't just want an excuse to sleep in the same bed as you?" Chris says, wiggling her eyebrows.

"Still here," I say. Tris looks at me like she's trying to say something with her eyes. "I'm going to leave now."

"Can I talk to you before you leave?" Tris asks.

"Uh, yeah, sure," I say. We both go out side and sit on her front steps. "What's up?"

"That's not all that happened last night," she says.

"What really happened? Why were you so concerned?" I ask. She looks hesitant to tell me.

"Um, we went upstairs and you... Kissed me," she says, looking at her lap.

"Tris, I am so sorry. I am not good at filtering what I want to do and what I can actually do when I'm drunk," I ask. Wait, did I just tell Tris that I wanted to kiss her? Oops. She blushes.

"Don't be sorry. I told you to stop and you started insulting yourself. It was really bad, Tobias. Are you sure you're okay?" she asks again. She looks at me with concern in her eyes, not pity like I expected.

"What did I say?" I ask.

"You said you were worthless and a waste of time," she says. I can tell that that's not all.

"And?"

"You said you shouldn't be alive," she says. God dammit, I must have ruined all the chances I would ever get with her. Why would anyone want anyone as messed up as me?

"I'm so sorry, Tris. I'm so so sorry. I should go," I say, standing up. She stands up too.

"Promise me you won't hurt yourself," she says.

"Promise," I say. She hugs we and I put my arms around her waist.

"You can always talk to me, and I will always listen, Tobias," she whispers. She kisses me lightly on the cheek and walks back into the house. Maybe not all of them are ruined.

Tris

As soon as I get back into the house, I call Chris' name. She comes running down the stairs.

"I have a boy problem," I say. I feel like I've known her for long enough to confide in her. She squeals and pulls me to sit on the couch with her.

"Spill it," she says.

"I think I like him," I say.

"You think?" she says. "What does that mean?"

"I don't know. I've liked people before, but it never felt like this. I always got nervous around them, but around him I feel perfectly comfortable," I confess.

"Did something else happen between you toe that I'm not aware of? Was it when you kissed?" She says.

"How did you know about that?" I say. "We're you watching us?"

"Of course I was watching we were in the same room!" She gasps. "You guys kissed another time, didn't you?"

"Maybe," I say.

"How was it?" she asks.

"Frankly, it was awful. He was drunk and he shoved his tongue down my throat. It was fine when he was sober, but that was just a peck," I say.

"Just a peck. It was not _just a peck_. That was the start of all sexual tension and exciting things that will now happen between you two!" she yells.

"It's not awkward," I say.

"You have to do something! You can't just sit around on your butt! Go tell him you love him! Seize the day!" she shouts.

"Calm down," I say. "I don't love him. I just might have a small, insignificant crush on him."

"Insignificant," She scoffs. "This is the best thing since sliced bread!" I put my hand in my forehead.

"You are so nerdy," I say. She laughs. "Anyway, it's not like he would every like me back." Chris looks very uncomfortable after I say that. She bites her lip and won't look me in the eye. "What's going on, Chris?" I ask.

"Nothing! Um, I have to go!" She stands up and walks toward the door. "I'm staying at Will's tonight, so you're on your own," she calls as she walks out, locking the door behind her.

"Okay," I say slowly to myself. Since there's no one home and probably won't be for a while, a scoop myself a bowl of ice cream and put Forrest Gump into the tv. I laugh at all the funny parts and cry at all the sad parts. The movie is over far too soon, and I realize it's five o'clock. I still have a little bit of the day to myself. I decide to go to the mall since I don't have that many clothes with me.

I walk down to the bus station and buy myself a ticket. I see a nice looking boy and walk up to him.

"Hi, um, I'm new in San Francisco, and I was wondering if you could tell me how to get to the mall," I say. God, I feel like it's my first day of high school.

"Yeah, I'm actually headed there now, so I can show you," he says, smiling.

"Thanks," We get on the first bus that comes and we ride it almost to the end. We walk up the stairs and he points to a large door in the station.

"That's one of the entrances to the mall," he says.

"Thank you so much!" I say and walk away. I wonder around the mall and go into random stores for a few hours. A few people stop to talk to me, and I notice how much nicer this city is than Chicago. I stop in H&M and buy a couple of dresses and skirts, stopping for frozen yogurt on the way. I also buy shirts and some lingerie. By the end of my trip, I've bought almost everything I need: shirts, pants, shorts, skirts, dresses, and undergarments. I stop for dinner at a moderately nice restaurant a few blocks away from the mall. After, I walk back down to the station and take the bus back. When I finally get back home, I check the time and see that it's already close to nine. I unlock the door and open it to see Tobias and some random girl making out on my couch.

"Dude, what the hell?" I yell. His shirt is unbuttoned and so are his pants and belt. The girl is in nothing but shorts and a bra. I turn my back to give them as much privacy as I can. What is going on? I can hear the girl asking Tobias a bunch of questions. After a few minutes, I turn back to see them fully dressed again. Well, he is. She's still wearing the same thing.

"I'm really sorry, Tris. I didn't think anyone would be home tonight," he says. He looks so uncomfortable, it's almost kind of funny. I might have laughed if I didn't feel the burn of jealously in my stomach.

"Do you want to tell me what's going on?" I say.

"Do I get an explanation too?" the girl says in a bratty voice.

"No," I say.

"Chris told me she wasn't home tonight. I called the home phone and no one picked up, so I assumed you weren't here," he says.

"Where else would I be?" I say. I cross my arms over my chest.

"Is she your girlfriend?" she says.

"Brittany, can you shut up for two seconds?" Tobias says. Her jaw drops. "I'm really really sorry, Tris. I really am."

"Why were you even using my house for your hookups anyway?" I ask.

"I don't like having people at my house," he says.

"And you think I do?" I say viciously. He shakes his head.

"I'm leaving, whatever," Brittany says. She grabs her shirt and leaves. I push past Tobias into my house.

"You should go with her. Wouldn't want to miss the perfect opportunity of banging a slut, right?" I say sarcastically, not looking at him.

"I didn't want to have sex with her," he says.

"Please, Tobias, don't start any of that stuff with me," I says, scowling at him.

"I don't know why you're so mad at me for doing this!" he yells. I'm not mad at him, really. I'm mad at myself for liking him. For wanting to be the girl he makes out with on the couch. I shake the thoughts out of my head.

"I'm mad because you took a girl to my house to have sex with her and then lie to my face about it!" I scream. I rub my eyes with my thumb and index finger. "You should go."

"Tris–"

"No, go." I say firmly.

"Okay, I'll leave. Goodbye, Tris," he says as if he's never going to see me again. I walk up to my room without saying anything. I pull put my phone and text Chris.

 _Please come home. I need a girl to talk to_.

_**Call Eaton.** _

_I can't. He's the problem._

_**on my way**_.

She makes it home in twenty minutes. She finds me sitting on the bed, my head in my hands.

"Oh, baby. What happened?" she says, handing me a box of tissues and sitting next to me. "I don't need these," I say, placing the tissues on my bedside table.

"You know how Four used to use our house as his hookup place?" She nods. "I found him and some girl named Brittany making out on the couch, both half naked."

"Aw, baby, I'm sorry," she says. "I know Brittany. She was his main hookup girl. I think they went out for a few days or something. I guess she's back,"

"I thought he might be different," I say.

"He is. I don't know what's going on with him, but he hasn't done this in a while. I'll call him now and put it on speaker, okay?" I nod. She gets her phone and calls Tobias.

"Hello?" he says through the phone.

"Why were you in my house?" she asks.

"Oh god, Tris told you about that? I'm so sorry," he says.

"Why were you with Brittany?"

"Do you know everything that went on?" he asks.

"Yep. Talk."

"I don't know why I did it. I'm pretty sure Tris hates me now, after last night and now this," he says.

"I can't do this. I'm leaving," I whisper to Chris. I get up and walk into the bathroom into the hall. I put my hands on the counter and stare into the mirror. I run my fingers through my hair. Chris comes in a few minutes later, phone in hand.

"Is he still there?" I whisper, pointing to the phone. She nods.

"He wants to talk to you," she says. I take the phone and put it to my ear. Chris goes to her room.

"Hi," I say.

"Tris." he says.

"Yeah?"

"I want to apologize to you," he says.

"Why me?" I say.

"Because you were so nice to me yesterday, and you did so much for me. I do nothing for you in return but use your house because I'm to much of a coward to use mine," he says. "I promise I didn't want to have sex with her,"

"I don't care wether or not you were going to have sex with her or not," I say. "It's doesn't matter."

"I wasn't," he says again. I sigh.

"It's fine, Four. I'm going to go to sleep now," I say. I don't hang up, though.

"You called me Four," he says.

"That's your name, isn't it?" I say.

"No, it's not. I'm sorry, Tris," he says. He's going to know I like him if I keep acting like this.

"Okay, Tobias. Goodnight," I say. I hang up before he can say anything else.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There you go! I have an explanation as to why Tobias was with Brittany, I just don't really know how to incorporate it into the story. Thanks for reading!  
> ~Isabel


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! New chapter up today. I don't know when Tris and Tobias should start dating, but I want it to be soon. I have a lot of things planned out, and I feel like the next few chapters might come more quickly than the first ones, but no promises. I also changed Tris' favorite movie to Forrest Gump when she's talking to Victoria in the first chapter because I thought it would be more fitting, but that doesn't really matter. Anyway, here's chapter 8.

Tris

~About a month later~

The past month has been sufficiently awkward between Tobias and me. He won't look me in the eye, and whenever we are alone, it usually consists of us clearing our throats a billion times. We've tried to talk about what happened, but that always results in more awkwardness. Today, Chris invited him and Will over for something or another, which I am not looking forward to. When Tobias gets here, the first thing he does is go to the bathroom, so that means I have a few more seconds of being spared from him. I let out a breath.

"You really don't want to talk to him, do you?" Chris asks me. I shake my head. She turns to Will. "Help me."

Will swiftly walks over to me and throws me over his shoulder. I scream and pound my fists against his back. I can only pray that they're not going to lock me in a room with Tobias. Will runs up the stairs and stands outside the bathroom. When the door opens, Tobias gets a strong kick in the chest. Caught off guard, he falls back into the bathroom. Will shoves me inside roughly before slamming the door shut. Oh, no. Now I'm stuck in here. With him. I still haven't bothered to face my feelings yet. Do I like him? Do I hate him? Do I wanna suck face with him? I don't even know.

Tobias chuckles awkwardly before ramming his shoulder into the door.

"They put something under the door knob," he says. "They really don't want us getting out."

"No, we don't, now talk before you starve!" Chris yells from the other side of the door.

"I guess we're stuck in here," Tobias says. I nod.

"Yep," I sit on the edge of the bathtub while he awkwardly paces in front of me. He does this from a few minutes, now starting to sweat and bite his nails.

"Are you okay?" I ask.

"I don't really like small places," he says.

"Well maybe you should stop pacing," He stops very abruptly and turns to look at me.

"Why is it so awkward between us?" He asks, sitting next to me.

"I know as well as you do," I say.

"Come on, Tris. The faster we get this done the faster I can get out of here," he says. I press my lips together and nod.

"Thanks," I say.

"That's not what I meant. I don't like feeling trapped."

"Take deep breaths," He does, but they're still very quick. "Slower. In... Out... In... Out," He links up his breathing with my words.

"Thank you." he whispers.

"We should start talking otherwise they'll never let us out," I say, trying to direct him mind away from his fear.

"I'm sorry for making out with that random girl in your house and I'm sorry you had to witness it. Do you think we can go back to normal?" he says.

"I'm sorry for being so mad. I think I was just taken aback. Chris kind of told me about you and I didn't think you'd be doing things like this anymore," I confess. I feel like I'm in middle school again.

"I don't do things like that anymore. I would have remembered that that night and I wouldn't have slept with her," he says, but this time, I feel like he's actually telling the truth. I lean my head on his shoulder and he stiffens for a second, then relaxes.

"I was the one who made everything awkward between us," I whisper. He puts his hand on my shoulder.

"No you didn't. It's my fault for even bringing her here in the first place," he says. _It's not your fault_ , I want to say. _It's my fault for having a stupid crush on you_.

"It shouldn't matter anymore. You're my best friend, and I don't want that to end," I say.

"Hey!" Chris yells from outside.

"And you, Chris," I yell back. Tobias laughs.

"You guys can come out now," she says. He sighs.

"Finally," he says, getting up. "Can you unlock the door?"

"I did. You can come out now," Chris repeats. Tobias opens the door and steps into the hallway. "We're going to leave for a bit," she says. "You're welcome to stay here, Four." He looks at me.

"It's fine with me," I say.

"I'm not doing anything, so I guess I can stay. We're cool now, right?" He asks me. I nod. "I'll stay."

"Okay. Just don't break anything," Chris says. They leave, and it's just me and Tobias.

"What do you want to do?" I asks. He shrugs.

"We could call someone else or we could stay here," he says.

"We should just stay here," I say. We sit down on the couch and he flips through T.V. It's still slightly awkward. "Can I just ask why?"

"Why what?" he asks.

"Why you brought her here if you weren't going to sleep with her," I say. He sighs.

"I don't know. I guess she was a distraction of sorts," he says. Distractions from what? I don't say anything because I don't want to get up in his business.

"We're going to watch a movie," He gets up and walks to my stack of DVDs. He sticks one in the TV and as soon as I see the feather floating around, I know what movie it is.

"I _love_ Forrest Gump!" I say.

"It was on top, so I figured it was your favorite," he replies. "I've never seen it." I gasp.

"Never seen Forrest Gump? That's _awful_ ," I say. He laughs.

"Will I like it?" he asks.

"It's the best movie ever. _so good_ ," I say. "Now shut up and watch."

I look over at Tobias a lot during the movie to see if he likes it. I can't really tell through his blank expression he usually wears. I look over during the sad parts, and he doesn't seem fazed by the deaths. I turn back to the movie and watch the life of Forrest Gump for the millionth time ever. At the very end, at the saddest part, I hear Tobias sniffle. I look at him and see that his eyes are watering a little. So are mine, but still.

"What is this that I see?" I say jokingly, my voice cracking a little. "Does the forever emotionless Four actually have feeling?" A tear actually slips down my face and I rub it away.

"Shut up," he says, wiping his eyes. "You're the one who's crying."

"Oh, come on. Admit it. It's sad. You're sad," I say. He shrugs.

"It's a little sad," he says. I shake my head and rest it on his shoulder. His arm wraps around me.

"Did you like it at least?" I ask.

"I really liked it. Thank you for showing it to me," he says.

"Good. You have now passed Tris' test of friendship worthy-ness," I say. He laughs, and I can feel his shoulders shakes slightly.

"Was I not worthy of your friendship before?" he asks, mocking hurt.

"If I had know you hadn't seen it, we wouldn't have been friends. I take this movie very seriously," I say.

"Chris hasn't seen it either," he says.

"I know what we're doing next Saturday," I say. He laughs again. At that moment, Chris unlocks the door and steps inside with Will. Their lips are locked, and I don't think they even notice us is their attempt to remove their clothing.

"I will take you right on the kitchen table," Chris says to Will, unbuttoning his shirt.

"Please don't," I call out, making mine and Tobias' presence noticed. Will releases Chris and they both turn to us quickly.

"Tris! Eaton! I didn't know you guys were here!" Chris says. They stand there, shifting foot to foot, Will's shirt wide open.

"I'm sure you didn't," Tobias says. Will chuckles nervously.

"Well this is awkward," he says. I laugh. "I think I'm going to go."

"Don't you dare. You're coming upstairs with me," Chris says. She grabs his hands and pulls him to her room. I pinch the bridge of my nose.

"Ugh, now I have to listen to them all night long," I say. Tobias laughs. "It's not funny."

"It's a little bit funny," he says. I playfully hit his arm, but hard enough that it will hurt. "Don't you have ear plugs?"

"No, but even if I did, it wouldn't help. Chris is so loud," I say. I groan. "Whatever, I'll deal with it." It seems as if Will and Chris have already started their night, because her moans begin to fill the house.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Tobias says. "Do you want to stay at my house?"

"Really?" I ask. "You would let me come to your house?" I thought he didn't let anyone go over.

"Sure. We're friends, right?"

"Are you sure?" I say. He nods.

"Sure," He smiles.

"Alright, just let me get some clothes," I say and run up the stairs. The moans get louder as I get closer to Chris' room. I bang on the door.

"I'm leaving!" I yell.

"Do... What you... Want," Chris says in between pants. I go to my room and put pajamas and an outfit for tomorrow into a bag. I head back down the stairs to see Tobias waiting patiently by the door.

"Ready?" he asks, holding his hand out. I take it.

"Ready." We get in his car and drive to his house. I'm curious as to what it looks like, but i know he's nervous. He lets out a deep breath once he turns the engine off.

"You don't have to do this," I say. "I can go back home."

"No, it's fine. I wouldn't want to stay in a house with them either," He gets out of the car and runs quickly over the my side of the car, but I've already opened the door.

"Hey, I was going to open it," he says. I laugh.

"Sorry," I say. He walks up the steps to a condo building and opens one of the doors. He flips on a light to reveal a long stair case up.

"After you," he says, gesturing into his house. I walk up the stair and turn on the light to the main part. It's much different than I expected. It's pretty small, very modern, very neat. I hear small clicks on the hardwood floor and turn to see a small pit bull running down the hallway, a pick collar around its neck.

"Sorry. I forgot to tell you about her. This is Rose. She's very friendly," he says. I drop to my knees and rub the dog's neck as she licks my face.

"How old is she?" I ask.

"Only about six months," he says.

"She's so cute," I say, still petting her. "I've always wanted a dog." He laughs.

"Me too. I got her as soon as I was able to. I never had one as a kid," he says.

"Me neither. My dad was allergic," I say. I yawn. "My room is the third door to the left if you're tired. I still have a bit of work to do," he says.

"If I took your room, where would you sleep?" I ask. He shrugs.

"The couch, probably," he says.

"I can take the couch." I say, shaking my head. "It's your house, so you should get first choice of sleeping arrangements."

"And my first choice is the couch," he says.

"And what if my first choice isn't sleeping in the bed alone," I say, my eyebrows raised.

"I'm listening..." he says.

"Is it a queen size bed?" I ask.

"King," he corrects.

"Whatever. That's big enough for two people, right?" I say.

"You sure? I'm perfectly fine with staying on the couch," he says.

"I'm sure," I smile at him. "I'm going to go get ready for bed now," I walk down the hallway toward his room and shut the door once I get there. I open my bag and pull out my tee shirt and shorts. I change into the and see that my tattoo is poking out a little from my shorts. I crawl into bed and pulls out a book to read until Tobias gets back. He goes into the bathroom and changes, coming out in just sports shorts. He lifts the covers and lies next to me. There's still a bit of space between us, more than I'd like.

"What are you reading?" he asks. I close my book and show him the cover.

"The Fault in Our Stars," I say. "The movie comes out on my birthday." He smiles.

"I know what we're doing for your birthday, then" he says. I laugh.

"I'm pretty tired, actually. I think I'm going to go to sleep," I say.

"Okay. I'll turn out the light," He leans over and flips the light switch off.

"Good night, Tris."

"Good night, Tobias. Thanks for letting me be here," I whisper.

"Anytime, Tris."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am adding notes at the end to because I felt like the notes at the beginning of the chapter were getting too long. Anyway, I just want to say how excited I am for the TFiOS movie!! It's in just 17 days (that's really soon). Whatever, you probably don't care, but I just wanted to say that.  
> ~Isabel


	9. Chapter 9

Tobias

I wake to a phone buzzing. I look at my bedside table and see that it's not mine, it's Tris'. I contemplate wether or not I should wake her up, but I don't want to answer it either. I let it go to voice mail.

 I get out of bed and go down the hall to make pancakes, thankful that I don't have to go to work today. I make eggs and bacon, too, and put them on two plates for Tris and me. I cover them With plastic wrap so they don't get cold.

I sit down at the kitchen table and start dome of my work for the week, hoping that I might be able to get another day off. I work for about thirty minutes before Tris comes running down the hall and into the room.

"Why are you so excited?" I ask, laughing.

"Chris is going to kill me!" she says.

"Chris is not going to kill you," I say. "I made breakfast."

 "Oh, she is definitely going to kill me. We were supposed to go shopping or something girly this morning and she left me a billion messages asking where I am. What time is it?" I look at my watch.

"10:30," I say. She sighs and sits down.

 "Good. She told me to meet her at the mall at 12:00," she says. "You said something about breakfast?" I laugh.

"There are two plates by the stove; do you mind getting both of them?" I ask. She fetches the plates while I put away my work stuff. She sets one down in front of me and one across from me, on the other side of the table.

 "French toast," she says.

 "What?" I ask.

"French toast is my favorite breakfast food," she says. "Just if you were wondering." I laugh.

 "Thank you for that valuable piece of information. I will keep that in mind for next time."

"Oh, so there's going to me a next time," she says with a small smile.

"Eh, I don't know. I guess I like you, so maybe I'll keep you around," I joke. Maybe I plan on having Tris over again, but not as just my friend. "My pancakes feel... Not up to par."

"I like pancakes, too. I just like french toast better. And I haven't tried these pancakes yet," She gets up and goes into the kitchen. "Where's the silverware?" I don't really remember off hand; getting it feels so routine to me. I try to picture my kitchen.

"Uh, drawer to the... Left of the sink," I say.

"Not silverware," she calls. I get up and stand right behind her. I notice immediately what's wrong. I lean down so my mouth is right next to her ear.

"That's because that's the right of the sink," I whisper. She shivers and I laugh. I move to the other side of the sink and grab the forks and knives and bring them back to the table. Tris takes a few seconds before coming to join me.

"Okay, Mr. Four, let's see if your pancakes are good," she says. She takes a bite and looks up at me. "They're good."

 "French toast good?" I say with a smirk.

 "Almost. Nicely done, Tobias." I smile at her and clear her plate when she's done. 

 "So, um, tonight, Zeke and I were thinking of bringing everyone to Angel Island to stay the night. You know, kind of a camping trip of sorts. Do you want to come?" I say.

 "I love to come; that sounds like a great idea. But what the hell is Angel Island? Is that the one with all the dead bodies and shit?" she asks. I laugh.

 "I actually have no idea what you're talking about," I say. "Maybe you're thinking of something in, like, Chile."

 "No, it's definitely in San Francisco. I've seen it. It has a big building that covers most of it." she says.

 "Oh! That's Alcatraz, " I say. She nods. "And that's a jail, not a bunch of dead bodies."

 "Whatever, same thing," she says with a smile. "Which one's angels island?"

 "That's the bigger one that's just trees," I say. She nods.

 "I know that one too," she says. "That would be fun, but good luck convincing Chris to go."

 "Zeke is asking her, so I don't have to deal with that this time," I say with a laugh. She runs a finger through her messy hair, which only serves to mess it up more. She looks adorable without her makeup on. I don't think she knows how beautiful she actually is. 

 

"Thank you so much for letting me stay here," she says. "I know you don't let anyone over here." 

 "It's my pleasure, Tris."

 God, I'm falling for her so hard.

 [page break]

 ~that night~

Tris

We take a ferry over to the island at the end of the day. Somehow, Zeke managed to convince Chris to come, despite all of her complaints about the bugs and dirt. She whines the whole ride there, and eventually, Will politely tells her to shut up. She scoffs, but he kisses her and she smiles at him. Their relationship is so cute. That's the kind of relationship I would want, though preferably with a man with a number for a name.

 By the time we get to the island, it's almost night. The sun is starting to set over the bay, and the view of the Golden Gate Bridge is amazing. Zeke and Tobias set up a small camp fire, four chairs positioned around it. The boys take the chairs, their girlfriends sitting in their laps. I stand awkwardly while Tobias sits in the last chair. He grabs my hand and pulls me into his lap.

 "There's no need for you to be standing all night, is there?" he says.

 "Uh, no," I reply, a bit flustered. Chris laughs.

 "You two are so adorable," she says.

 "We're just friends," I tell her. She smirks.

"Whatever you say, Tris," She winks.

 We talk and drink a little for a few hours, and I start to feel very tired pretty early. I squirm a bit in Tobias' lap, trying to get more comfortable. His hand wrap around my waits, his fingertips rubbing small circles on my hips. I close my eyes and try to go to sleep. Everyone lowers their voice when they realize I'm going to sleep. Just as I am about to fall asleep, I head Uriah whisper my name. I tell my body to wake up slightly, and it does.

 "Why aren't you two dating yet?" Uriah whispers. "You guys are the last two in the group."

 "We're only friends, guys. It's not like that between us," Tobias says. Oh, but how I wish it could be like that. 

 "You better hurry up before she finds someone else," someone, I think Will says. I could never find someone better, at least I don't think I could. He's smart, and funny, and caring, and slightly intimidating but still amazingly good-looking. Plus, he's a dog lover, so what more could a girl want? 

 "I know," Tobias says. "She can, and she probably will."

 God, I'm falling for him so hard.

 

 I wake up in a tent, Tobias' face just inches from mine. He looks so much younger when he's asleep, more innocent. I wonder if he would wake up if I kissed him right now... Probably not. I lean forward and just barely brush my lips against him. His lips are warm and nice, and it takes all of my self control to not kiss him as hard as I can.

 He stirs a little, and I close my eyes, pretending to be asleep.

 "Tris?" he whispers. I don't move. I feel his lips lightly against my forehead, leaving a soft kiss. I try my best not to smile. I fall back asleep easily with thoughts of Tobias in my mind.

 

"Tris," I hear Tobias say.

 "Hmmm," I say. He laughs.

 "Tris, it's time to wake up," he whispers. His arms are around me, and I'm pressed up against his chest. I can feel his steady heartbeat and the warmth radiating from his body.

 "I'm comfortable like this," I murmur. He shakes me a little.

 "Tris, it almost noon. We have to get up. Carpe diem!" he says.

 "Carpe diem means pluck the day," I whisper. He chuckles.

 "Okay," he says. "Come on, Tris. What do I have to do to get you out of bed?" I have a few ideas for you, number boy, I think. Of course, I could never say any of them out loud, so I don't.

 "I don't know. Maybe if you poured water on my head, but don't do that or I'll kill you," I say. I open my eyes and look up at him, his dark eyes staring down at me. He smiles slightly at me.

 "I'll buy you ice cream," he says. I smile back at him.

 "Okay," I sit up and rub my eyes. I lift my arms above my head. "Carry me."

 He laughs and picks me up easily, and I bury my face in his chest. He brings me outside and back around the camp fire.

 "Good to see you two are finally awake. Or, at least one of you are," Zeke says. I lift my head up and look at him.

 "I'm awake," I say groggily. He laughs. 

"Just barely," he says. I put my head back on Tobias' chest. "Every one else went for a hike, so it's just you and me for now." 

"I promised Tris I'd buy her some ice cream, so I have to find somewhere that I can do that." Tobias says. I nod. 

"Yeah, ice cream," I add. He chuckles. 

"I think there are some little shops on the other side of the island; you could walk there but that's, like, two miles away," Zeke says. I don't feel like walking two miles.

"Will you just get me ice cream back in the city?" I ask Tobias, looking up at him. 

"Sure," he says, smiling. 

"You guys should just start dating before Chris explodes. She would be screaming is she were here," Zeke says. I tear my eyes away from Tobias' to look at him. 

"Just friends," I remind him.

"Yeah, whatever. Keep telling yourself that," he says with a shrug. He's not just a friend to me, but I know that's all I'll be to him. I snuggle back done on his chest and close my eyes, trying to sleep again. Tobias shakes me. 

"No, Tris, don't go back to sleep. If you go back to sleep, you won't get ice cream," he says. My eyes flutter back open. 

"I feel like a toddler," I say. He laughs. 

"Ugh, I'm leaving. I think everyone will be back soon," Zeke says. He leaves and goes back to his tent. I stay on Tobias' lap, despite having three empty chairs. 

"People are so annoying," I say.

"They are. If only the world could be populated by billions of Beyoncés, then the world would be perfect," he says. I laugh. I tilt my head up and lock eyes with him. We stay like that for a while, I don't know exactly how long. His fingertips rub soothing circles on my hips. I really want to kiss him right now. It would be perfect, and no one would know except us.

"How long are you two going to stay like that?" I hear someone say. I turn away from Tobias to see Chris standing behind on of the chairs, her hand on her hip.

"Were you spying on us?" I ask. She nods.

"Marlene and Shauna are here, too, they're just too shy to stand up," she says. I hear some whispering coming from her feet which I'm assuming is Marlene and Shauna. "Anyway, it's time to go back home."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am convinced that I'm a horrible person. Im so, so, so, so sorry that i havent been updating. I couldnt think of anything to write for this last chapter, and i promise i will be updating more ofter. Ill try my very best to have the next chapter up by wednesday, but i probably wont do that either. 
> 
> Okay, some notes regarding the story. One note, actually. I decided that im going to change everyone's age. I sais she was twenty one and just out of college, but i decided to make her 25, so tobias is 27 along with zeke and shauna, you get the point. I already have my plot laid out for a while, so im hoping ill be able to write with less writers block.
> 
> Comgratulations is you read all that, even if its not that much. Heres a baloon:


	10. Chapter 10

"What's up with you and Four?" Marlene asks once we get back home. Chris sent the boys home, so Marlene, Shauna, Chris and I sit on the couch. 

 "I don't know. He's, like, my best friend," I say.

"Are you sure you're just friends?" Shauna asks. I nod.

"Pretty sure."

"Do you want to be more than friends?" Chris adds. I shrug.

"I don't know. I guess so, but I'm sure he doesn't." I say. 

"Aw, Trissy has a crush," Shauna says. 

"Shut up. It doesn't matter," I say. 

"Of course it matters," Marlene says. "We should have everyone over again tonight so you two can stare at each other all night."

"He doesn't stare at me. Does he?" I ask. Chris laughs.

"He does," she says. I smile at my hands in my lap. 

"Do you think there's anyway he could like me back?" I ask. They all nod.

"I bet he does," Chris says. "Not that I would know, of course."

"Chris, will you text everyone and tell them to come back here tonight?" Shauna asks. She nods and gets out her phone. 

"Thanks guys. Will you not tell him that I like him?" 

"We would never," Marlene says with a smile. "I can talk to him if you'd like."

"I've tried. We talk about you a lot, actually." Chris says to me. I laugh.

"I guessed." 

"Is there anything specific you want to do in San Francisco?" Shauna asks.

"Why?" I say.

"'Cause Four can do it with you, now answer the question," she says.

"Um, I kinda wanna walk across the Golden Gate Bridge," I say. They all shake their heads.

"No, you don't. It's foggy and cold and miserable. Anything else?" Marlene says.

"Not really," I say. "What do you guys recommend?"

"I don't really do much sight-seeing or anything," Chris says.

"Neither do I," says Shauna.

"I just like hanging out with him. He's really interesting. I feel like we're pretty close," I say. I think of the secrets I've told him and the ones he's told me. I trust him, and that's definitely something.

"Close?" Marlene says. I nod. "No one gets close to Four. No one actually knows him or anything about him. He doesn't even tell people his name."

"He told me," I say, and immediately regret it.

"What the hell, Tris!" Chris yells.

"I should not have said that," I mumble.

"You have to tell us," Shauna says.

"No," I say firmly.

"Why not?" Marlene asks.

"Because I promised him I wouldn't tell," I say.

"Hitler also promised he wouldn't invade Czechoslovakia. Welcome to the real world," Chris says. I laugh.

"I'm not going to tell you guys," I say. I wouldn't betray Tobias like that.

"If we guess the first letter, will you tell us if we're right?" Shauna asks. I shake my head.

"No, so you may as well give up now," I say. "I'm not going to tell you."

"I'm going to call him and yell at him over the fact that he told you before us," Marlene says. Shit.

"Please don't," I plead. "He'll get mad at me for telling you that he told me. Please don't tell him." Marlene sighs.

"Fine, whatever." She says, defeated. "What else has he told you?"

"Nothing, I promise," I say, holding my hands up in surrender. "I wouldn't tell you if I knew anything else."

"I'm gonna get some ice cream," Chris says. She walks to the kitchen and comes back with Ice cream sandwiches, handing one to each of us. 

"Thanks, Chris," I say. 

"You guys would be so cute together. I'm serious, it would be amazing," Shauna says. 

"More like a miracle," I say. 

"Hey, you never know; he could like you back," Marlene says. 

"I doubt it, but you could be right," I say. Chris gasps.

"We should go to Japan Town!" Chris yells.

"Calm down," I say. She smiles ear to ear.

"That's actually a really good idea. Not today, though," Shauna says. "I'm too tired." 

"Tris," Marlene says.

"Yeah?" 

"Tell me his name."

"Sorry," I say. "You can ask for as long as you want and I will never tell you."

"Are we not friends?" She says jokingly.

"Yes, that is exactly what I'm trying to say here," I say sarcastically. "No, I just don't want to betray his trust. If you really want to know, ask him."

"Fine, maybe I will," she says, I sigh.

"Just don't tell him that you know I know," I say. If Tobias started hating me, it would be the exact opposite of what I want. 

"You guys would just be the cutest couple ever. I know that has already been said a bunch of times, but I can't express it enough," Chris says. "Can I please plan your wedding?"

"Chris, no one said anything about weddings," I say. 

"It's inevitable," she says. "It's meant to be."

"Shut up."

We spend the rest of the day talking about random things, mostly about me and Tobias. It's nice to think about, even though I know it will never happen. I like to stay optimistic, even if it is highly improbable. Tobias and I wouldn't make a good couple, he's far too attractive to be with someone like me. I don't think we would make a very esthetically pleasing couple, with him being hot and me... Not. Maybe if I was more attractive it might work. Maybe I'm just over thinking it. 

 Chris invites the boys back over that evening, this time inviting Victoria, too. They come over at around six o'clock.

" Let's go for a walk," Zeke says. Uriah groans.

"Why?" He asks. Zeke shrugs.

"So Tris can explore the neighborhood more," he explains.

"I'm fine. I know the neighborhood," I say.

"No, you don't," Chris says. "Walking to West portal does not constitute as knowing the neighborhood."

"Okay," I say. Tobias walks over to me.

"Hey, Tris," he says.

"Hi," I say. He smiles. Why does he have to have such a nice smile?

We leave and walk up a bunch of hills, Tobias and I hanging back and talking the way there. We go to a small park surrounded by trees.

"Why did we come here?" Will asks.

"I don't know. I loved this park when I was younger," Zeke says. "Uriah, Four and I used to come here and play kick the can all the time." Tobias laughs.

"I beat you two every time," he says.

"That's not true. I won once," Uriah defends.

  
" _Once_  being the operative word," he says. I laugh. I sit down in the damp grass. Everyone looks at me.

"What? Why stand if you can sit?" I say. Tobias chuckles and sits down next to me, his knee touching mine. I scoot slightly closer to him. Everyone sits one by one until no one is standing but Zeke and Uriah. They look at each other, smiling. They wait a few seconds before tackling each other to the floor. Marlene laughs and chants Uriah's name while Shauna chants Zeke's. Victoria laughs at them. Chris and Will sit a little away from all of us, their lips locked. I turn to Tobias.

"We're the only normal ones here," I say. 

"You've got that right," he says. "Try living with them; they would tackle each other all the time." I laugh and lace my fingers with his. He probably thinks I'm crazy, but it's worth it to feel his large hand engulfing my small one. The wind blows and I shiver.

"Are you cold?" he asks me. I nod. He pulls off his sweatshirt, revealing a bit of his stomach. "Here," He hands me his jacket.

"Thanks," I say, putting it on.

"Of course, Tris," he says. I put my hand back in his, missing the sparks between us. His hand is so warm. He squeezes my hand.

"Do you wanna go for a walk?" I ask Tobias. If we're already outside, we may as we'll watch the sun set, too.

"Where to?" he responds. I shrug.

"Somewhere that's not here," He laughs. I stand, pulling him up with me. We walk to the edge of the grassy area, none of our friends noticing that we're leaving. We walk down a small path behind the trees of the park. "We just need to get somewhere where we can see the sunset."

"There's a small space in the trees," he says, pointing forward.

"Not good enough," I say. I can't walk past the trees, because then we'd be walking down a very steep hill. We keep walking farther down the past until I find somewhere good enough. I sot down on the pavement and he sits next to me, out fingers still intertwined. Neither of us say anything until he breaks the silence.

"It's amazing," he whispers. The reds and oranges fill the sky and the darkness slowly closes around us.

"It really, really is," I say. I turn to look at him and he looks back at me. We stay like that for a long time. I really want to kiss him right now. My eyes flick down to his lips, quickly but I think he still noticed. I blush a little. Then, his arms are around me and his lips are on mine. He kisses me firmly, and it's so much better than when he was drunk. His tongue flicks over my lower lip and I happily let him in. Our tongues greedily explore the others mouth and I tangle my hands in his hair. Somehow, I end up in his lap, my knees to my chest. We wraps one arm around my knees and one around my lower back. I lean into his strong arms and don't take my lips off of him. I don't know how long I stay kissing him, but we only stop when I hear someone clear their throat. I turn to see Victoria standing right behind us.

"Woo hoo!" she shouts. "Finally!" Tobias shushes her.

"Will you shut up?" he says. She smirks and steps back.

"Don't tell Chris," I say. "She'll tell everyone."

"Oh, I am definitely going to tell her," she says. Tobias looks at me.

"Do you want everyone to know?" He asks me quietly. I shake my head. Not for now, at least. He sighs. "How much do you want?" He turns back to Victoria.

"Twenty bucks," she says without hesitation.

"Come on, Vic," he says. She crosses her arms and raises an eyebrow. He pulls his wallet out of his pocket.

"I can pay for it of you want," I suggest. He shakes his head.

"I have been putting up with this stuff for years. I can pay the twenty dollars," he says, smiling. I crawl off and we stand up. His hair is ruffled and messy form me running my fingers. He runs his hands over it, but it's still a bit messier than normal. We walk back to the main clearing and join our friends.

"Where did you guys go?" Shauna asks.

"We just went for a walk," I say, sneaking a glance at Tobias. He smirks at me.

"Well, Marlene, Uriah, Chris, and Will already went back, so now it's just us five," Zeke says. We start to walk back, Zeke and Shauna walking ahead of us. Victoria asks us a bunch of questions as we walk.

"Are you two boyfriend and girlfriend? Was that the first time you've kissed? Why didn't you tell me you were together?" she pesters. We both ignore her the whole walk. By the time he get back to my house, she gets bored of us and leaves.

"Uh, do you want to come over?" I ask Tobias. "Not in a 'let's have sex' way, but in a 'wanna hang out' way?" He laughs.

"Sure," Chris told me earlier that she's staying at Will's house, so we will have the place to ourselves.

As soon as we step through the door, Tobias pins me against the door and kisses me again. His hands rest on either side of my head either side of my face to support his weight and mine are on his hips.

"Tris," he says. Me kisses me again, shortly this time. "Will you be my girlfriend?" I'm so surprised that he would want me as his girlfriend. My mouth opens and closes a few times, trying to find the power to say anything. All of my knowledge of the English language leave me, and I close my mouth, trying not to look stupid.

"Mmmhmm," I manage, nodding. He kisses me softly.

"Thank you," he whispers. He pecks my cheek. "Unfortunately, I have to work tomorrow, so I have to go now, I'll text you, okay?" I nod.

"Okay." He kisses me once more and leaves my house. I stand there, panting, my back against the door, thinking about what just happened and whether it was dream or not.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay they're finally together!! I said I would be updating on Wednesday and it's Sunday so thank me for that. :). I guess this was a long chapter. It was 2,000 words... So I'm pretty proud of that. I have some plans about where this story is going to go, but I keep realizing mistakes that I have make in the earlier chapters. This was going to be like a big thing that I say in last chapter's notes, but I forgot to, so I'm saying it now. I'm changing tris' age. She is now 25, Tobias is 27, and so on. She has graduated college and gone to teacher school and done all of these cool things with her life and stuff. Anyway, I think I will be updating again this week, I don't know. (The fault in our stars is in Four days, just if you were wondering. So I'd my birthday, actually.) Love you guys, and thanks for the comments, I love to read them. Till next time.  
> ~Isabel


	11. Chapter 11

It's been about a week since Tobias and I started dating. We still haven't told our friends, but I have a feeling I'll tell them pretty soon, though it is kind of fun. I feel like a teenager again, sneaking around with my secret boyfriend, sharing kisses while no one's watching. We still haven't gone on a first date, which I want to do pretty soon. I think a date would confirm that we're really a couple, and this isn't just some joke that he's playing on me.

Chris, Marlene, and Shauna have been up my butt about us, saying we should be together. They also keep trying to convince me to tell them his name, but I haven't, and I don't plan to. It's pretty tempting to just tell them that we're together, but I decided to keep them in the dark for a little while longer. Tobias and I will decide together when to tell them.

Today, Chris convinced everyone to go the Japanese place she was talking about a few days ago. She invited everyone, this time saying we'll meet them there. Chris and I get into her car and drive to wherever we're going.

When we get there, I see that it is a mall, but it's made to look like we're in japan. We meet up with everyone near the entrance, me going straight to Tobias. He smiles and says hello, giving me in a hug. I kiss his cheek in a way that no one will see.

"We're going to have to tell them eventually," I whisper in his ear.

"I know," he responds. "We'll find a time."

We walk into the mall. Tobias and I trail a little behind everyone, my hand in his. He drops it every time anyone looks back at us. It makes me a little sad that we have to be secretive like this. It makes me feel like he's embarrassed to be seen with me. Then again, why wouldn't he? He's so much more attractive than me, it doesn't really make sense that he would want to date me at all.

"We're just going to walk around alone, if that's okay," I call to the rest of the group, looking at Tobias.

"Have fun, but not too much fun," Chris says. "Meet is back here at one for lunch." I grab Tobias' hand, pulling him away from everyone. We sit down on a bench and he pulls me into his lap, kissing my cheek.

"Tobias," I whisper.

"Yeah?" he says, his lips against my cheek.

"Are you embarrassed of me?" I ask. His arms tighten around my waist.

"Of course not, Tris. The only reason I don't want to tell them is because I don't know whether or not you do. I'd be willing to go tell them now, if you want," he says. "I'd probably be bragging about you, if they knew." I smile and kiss him tenderly, putting my hands on his shoulders.

"When and how will we tell everyone?" I ask. I'd imagine it would seem like we were announcing a pregnancy, or a marriage.

"I don't know. When we're ready, and I guess we'll just tell them when the moment strikes," he says. "But since we're here, we may as well walk around." He grabs my hand and stand up, walking away from the bench. 

"We have about an hour before we're supposed to meet up with them," I say. "Where's the best place to go?"

"I don't know. There's pretty much everything here," he says, planting a kiss on my cheek. I squeeze his hand. We walk around, chatting and stepping in random stores. I buy myself some things that I still need from my move, as some of my bags got lost in travel. The rest of them still haven't arrived despite the amount of time that I've been here. Tobias and I take small breaks form shopping to find a bench and make out. We're lucky, in the small mall, out friends still haven't caught us. We keep walking and I see a photo booth at the side of the mall. I pull Tobias towards it.

"We should take pictures," I say.

"Okay," he says, entering the booth. I follow him and sit down on his lap. "What kind of pictures are we taking? Don't tell me we have to take a kissing photo or any of the mushy stuff." He kisses my cheek.

"We most certainly are taking a kissing picture and all that mushy stuff," I say, attempting to imitate his deep voice. He laughs. "We'll take a nice one, a funny one, an angry one, and the kissing one will be last. Okay?" 

"Okay." He put quarters into the machine and the screen lights up. I put my face next to his and smile as the screen counts down. I blink at the flash and the picture ends up looking disgusting. 

"We need to take another nice one, forget the funny one for now," I say, a smile plastered on my face. Tobias tickles me and I laugh, squirming. The camera flashes as I'm laughing, and it actually looks really good. "Now we do funny." 

We both make gross faces, and his makes me laugh more. I grab his face and pull it to mine, kissing him tenderly right before the flash goes off. Even after I hear the pictures print out outside, I stay with my forehead leaning on his, staring into his eyes. His hands rest on my hips. He gives me a quick kiss. 

"Come on. Let's see how those pictures turn out," he says. I reluctantly crawl off his lap and pull back the red curtain, only to see all of our friends huddled around the booth, looking at our pictures. Shit, the kissing one. Chris' head snaps up when I step out, Tobias a bit behind me. I back up slightly until I feel his strong chest against my shoulders. 

"When were you going to tell us about this?" she says. 

"Soon, I promise," I say. 

"How long has it been?" Marlene asks.

"Only a few days," I say. Zeke claps Tobias on the back.

"Nice, man," he says. Chris grabs my hand and pulls me away from the group, Marlene and Shauna following us.

"What the hell, Tris?" she says. I shrug.

"I didn't do anything wrong," I defend.

"You most certainly did," she replies. 

"How?" I ask. All I did was get myself a boyfriend. I don't think that constitutes as doing anything wrong, does it?

"You didn't tell me right away!" Chris yells at me. Shauna and Marlene nod. 

"Four and I decided we would tell you when we both wanted to," I say, crossing my arms over my chest.

"Don't get sassy with me, Beatrice," Chris scolds. I laugh. 

  
"I'm twenty five, Christina. I can do what I want," I say.   


"Tris, this is actually, like, amazing because you are the first person I've met to start dating their crush and have it be a real relationship," Marlene says. I shake my head.

"We haven't even gone on a date yet," I say. 

"Don't worry. He'll take you out. I guarantee it," Shauna says. 

"Thank guys. I tell you when he does," I promise.

* * *

Tobias  


I pick up my phone and call Tris. I still haven't taken her out on a date yet, and I don't think that's quite fair to her. I don't want her to think that I don't want to date her, or that I'm embarrassed of her or anything. She answers almost immediately.

"Hey, Four," she says. I wonder why she would call me by my nickname. She doesn't do that unless she's mad at me or with other people.

"Is Chris right there?" I ask.

"No, but Marlene is," she responds. "What's up?"

"I was wondering if you want to go out tonight," I say.

"Like, out as in on a date?" she asks.

"That's exactly what I mean. Is that okay?" I say.

"That's fine. I would love to. What time?" she asks.

"Do you want to meet me at work at 5:00? I can text you the address," I say.

"That would be awesome, I'll see you then, Four," she says. I hear Marlene squeal just before she hangs up. I chuckle.

Later that day, I get a text from Tris.

Hey Four. I'm not feeling too well. Can we reschedule?

Of course. I hope you feel better. 

She doesn't respond again after that.

After I'm done with all of my work, I pack up my stuff and put it in my briefcase. I walk outside to walk towards the bus, thoughts of Tris filling my mind. I hope she's alright.

As I walk, I see a small person huddled in a ball against a building.

"Hey!" I call out, approaching the person. From here, I can see that it's a woman. "Are you okay? Do you need help?" She turns around slightly, looking at me. I don't see her face; she has a hood pulled over her head.

"Please go away. I'm fine," she says. I can hear the pain in her voice.

"Are you sure?" I ask. Stepping closer to her. "Do you need a ride home or anything?"

"No, I don't. Please don't come any closer," she pleads. I don't stop walking towards her. I kneel down and place my hand on her back. She winces and I remove it. "No, Tobias, don't."

"Tris?" I say in disbelief. She's the only one in San Francisco that I've told my name to. She turns around and I'm greeted by the familiar blue gray eyes, but now they're filled with pain and tears. She collapses in to my arms.

Tris

A few hours earlier

I take the bus down to Tobias' work building, dressed moderately nicely for our date tonight. I feel butterflies in my stomach, and now is the only time I've ever been nervous about being with him. I just hope I don't disappoint him. I wipe my sweaty hands on my skirt and try to steady my breathing a bit. I get off the train and walk in the direction my phone tells me to. I've never been here, so I'm excited to see where Tobias works. I pass a small alley when I feel two pairs of hands grab my arms. I'm yanked to the ground, multiple punches thrown to my face. I scream and the hands pull me up.

"If you scream, you'll make this much worse for you. There's no one here to save you," a voice says. I open my eyes to see the one person I'd thought I would never see again: Peter.

He shoves me against a wall, and I have a second to glimpse around at my surroundings. We're alone in this alley. The only other person is someone I remember from high school, one of Peter's lackeys. I don't remember his name. Peter throws a powerful punch at my face, and I attempt to knee him where it counts. He grabs my leg, pushing me to the ground again. He sits on my waist, pinning my wrists down with his ankles. I squirm and struggle under his weight. His hands close around my throat and I gasp for air. He keeps this up until I think I'm going to pass out or die, then finally releases me. I breathe deeply, trying to catch my breath. He punches my nose and I feel it break.

"You won't get away with this," I say viciously, which earns me a slap. I bite my lip to keep from crying out. "He'll find me."

"Who will find you?" He spits out. "It's not like anyone cares about you anyways." He stands up and kicks me in the ribs. 

"He'll find me," I moan out, this time mostly to reassure myself. But what are the chances that he will show up. No one ever did in high school. 

"Is this that Four guy, your boyfriend. I bet you guys are going on a date, judging by that ugly dress you're wearing" he says, kicking my stomach and back. I cough up a bit of blood. He leans down and feel all around my body. I freeze with fear. What if he's finishing what he started at he graduation party? A tear trickles down my face. I feel my phone ripped off of my body. "What should we say? How about: 'Hey four, I'm not feeling too well. How about we reschedule?' That sounds like something someone as pathetic as you would say," He throws my phone to the side, and I see the screen crack. My phone is the least of my concerns right now.

Peter grabs me by my collar, slamming my head against the wall. I feel the corner of my vision start to go black. My head rolls to the side and he grabs my face, making me look at him.

"Don't pass out," he says, a small smirk on his face. "What's the point in beating you up if you're not awake to feel the pain?" He punches my stomach hard, multiple times, laughing as he does it.

"Please," I whisper.

"Please what? Please stop? Because that's never going to happen, sweetheart. Not as long as you're still conscious," he says. He pulls out a knife and my eyes widen. Fear burns in my stomach, screaming at me to fight back, to do something. I ignore the warnings, staying perfectly still. I can't move; I'm immobilized.

"Where to start, Trissy," he says with a smirk. "I thin I we should get rid of this dress, first." I start to cry. He slashes a cut into my collar bone, revealing my tattoo. "This is nice. Why don't we see the rest of is, shall we?" He cuts down the side of my dress, the knife digging into my skin. I can feel the blood dripping down my side. He digs two fingers into the cuts, making me cry out.

"Shut up, bitch," he says, pressing harder. He takes the knife and cuts shallow slits in my cheek bones, across my forehead. I bite my lip as the tears fall. He hand that's not pressing into me moves up to grope my chest. Thoughts of senior year fill me, and I gain control of my body again. He cuts deeply into my stomach and rage takes over my body. I kick him in the balls and he doubles over in pain. I grab the knife and run as far as I can, toward Tobias' work. I collapse against a building, not able to walk any farther. I prey that Peter doesn't find me, or that Tobias finds me first. I pull a hoodie over my head and put the hood up.

If Tobias does find me, what am I going to tell him? Maybe I just want neither of them to find me. I wrap my arms around my knees and cry into them for a while until I decide that I'm safe enough from Peter. I crawl slowly forward, no one on the streets bothering to stop and help me. I sob and wipe the blood and tears from my face. I lean up against a building, crying and pressing my hand to my stomach. I look at it to see it covered in crimson blood. I put it back to my wound, trying to keep the blood in. After a while, I hear a deep voice call out, presumably to me.

"Hey!" It says. "Are you okay? Do you need help?" I turn around slightly, looking at him. I notice that it's Tobias, and I turn my back to him immediately.

"Please go away. I'm fine," I say. I don't need him to se me like this. He's still the only one who has stopped to make sure that I'm okay.  
"Are you sure?" he asks.  "Do you need a ride home or anything?"  
"No, I don't. Please don't come any closer," I plead. He keeps walking towards me. He kneels down and places his hand on my back. I winces and he remove it. "No, Tobias, don't."  
"Tris?" He says, not able to keep the disbelief out of his voice. I shouldn't have said his name. I turn to face him and stare into his deep blue eyes. I collapse into his arms, sobbing. He picks me up and runs down the street. "I have to get you to a hospital."

"No, Tobias. Please don't. Just take me to your house," I say, burying my face into his chest. "Please."

"Tris, you're hurt. I'm not a doctor," he says desperately. I cry harder. Each step he takes sends a new wave of pain through my body. 

"Don't call 911," I whisper. 

"Fine, I won't. What happened?" He asks, calling a taxi. I feel my consciousness slipping away. 

"He found me, Tobias," I whispers as we get into the cab. 

"Who found you, Tris?" he asks, looking me in the eye.

"He did. Peter." I hear him say the address of his house to the driver before I pass out in his arms.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry I haven't updated in a while!! I've been so ridiculously busy these past few days; I litterally haven't been home in days. I wrote and updated this chapter as soon as I could. Maybe if you comment I'll update faster ;)  
> ~Isabel


	12. Chapter 12

 

 

I wake in a n unfamiliar room. My whole body aches. I look around and see that I'm in Tobias' house. He sit in a chair by the bed, his head in his hands. His fingers are tugging at his hair.

"You're going to rip out your hair if you stay like that," I croak out. He snaps his head up, his eyes lighting up when he sees me. His eyes are bloodshot and red. His hair is a mess, and he has a bit of beard scruff on his chin.

"Tris, you're awake!" he says, rushing to my side. I try to sit up, but pain racks my body. I put my hand to my stomach to see that it's covered in bandages.

"Help me?" I ask, holding my arms out. He grabs them and props my back up against the head board. He kisses my forehead. "How long have I been out?"

"A few days. You lost a lot of blood. I made you drink some water, but any food I fed you would just be thrown back up. You're probably hungry," he tells me. I nod.

"Starving actually." My stomach growls, as if on cue. He squeezes my hand and leaves the room. He comes back a few minutes late with a sandwich and some soup. He hands me a glass of water.

"How is your pain on a scale of one to ten?" He asks.

"I don't know. It's just kinda a dull pain everywhere, mostly in my stomach. I guess a six?" I say. He nods.

"Do you mind telling me what happened?" He says. He takes my hand and kisses my knuckles. I shake my head and retell the story.

"I'll kill him," Tobias says once I'm done talking. I look down at my lap. "I swear, I'll kill him with my bare hands."

"You're a little scary, Tobias," I say. He kisses my lips, tucking a piece of hair behind my ear. I wrap my skinny arms around his neck and kiss him back. His moves his hands to my ribs and I wince. He pulls back.

"Sorry," he whispers. He runs his thumbs over my cheek bones, where the cuts from Peter's knife are. He kisses each of them, including the one on my forehead. "I'm guessing Chris and everyone else wants to see you."

"Okay. Did you tell any of them?" I ask. He shakes his head.

"I figured you would want to tell them. Chris did call asking where you were. You probably have a bunch of messages a from her; your phone wouldn't stop buzzing while you were out," he tells me. He yawns.

"When was the last time you slept?" I ask. He shrugs.

"A few days?" he says. "I haven't slept since you got here."

"Tobias, that's bad. You should sleep," I say. I pat the bed next to me and he crawls in.

"I didn't want you to wake up and have me be asleep. I was also really worried," He kisses my cheek.

"I'm awake now, so now you don't have to worry," I say. "What time is it?"

"About nine A.M.," he says. "Why?"

  
"Well, after you get some sleep , do you think we could go visit everyone. I'm assuming you don't want everyone here, so you could take me back home," I suggest.

"I can sleep later, Tris. I can take you home," Tobias says. Will's a doctor, so he will have some better insight on what to do with your wounds."

"Are you sure you're not tired?" I ask.

"I never said I wasn't tired, there are just more important matters at hand," he says with a small smile. A phone rings. He sighs.

"Is that mine or yours?" I ask. He grabs the phone off the bedside table and hands it to me.

"It's Chris. Chances are, she wants to talk to you," he says. I put the phone to my ear.

"Hi, Chris," I say. She screams. Tobias chuckles.

"Where the hell have you been, Tris?" she yells into the phone.

"I'm at Four's house," I say.

"Oh, having a little fun with your new boyfriend?" she says suggestively. I can almost sense her eyebrows wiggling.

"Actually, kind of the opposite. I think I'm coming home soon," I say, looking at Tobias. He nods. He leans over towards me.

"I'll return her to you," he tells Chris through the phone. She says something about stealing me, and chicks before dicks. I laugh.

"It's okay, Chris. I'll be back soon. Four has been taking good care of me," I say. 

"I have no doubt about that. He's a good guy," she says, suddenly more serious. "I'll see you later." The line beeps, indication that she ended the call. I hand Tobias his phone back.

"Do you think you can walk?" Tobias says.

"Probably. Peter stayed away from my legs, actually. Mostly just my torso and face that hurts," I respond. I swing my legs over the edge of the bed, wincing when my stomach twists.

"Carful, Tris. Don't re-hurt yourself," he warns. He holds my hands, helping me up from the bed, my whole body is stiff from lying down for so long. I feel like I'm walking on someone else's legs.

Tobias helps me get to the bathroom. I look in the mirror, confused by my reflection, it's funny how reflections are always different, even if it's always the same person looking at the mirror. The girl in the mirror, she isn't Tris. She's Beatrice. She's the girl who came home from school everyday with new bruises. Who cried herself to sleep. This is not the new and improved Tris from San Francisco. This is the helpless little girl from Chicago.

I have scabs on my forehead and cheeks from Peter's knife. My neck is bruised from his hands chocking me. I lift up the shirt I'm wearing. My whole torso is black and blue. My stomach and side are covered in a thick bandage. I unwrap them and immediately wish I hadn't. There are deep gashes underneath, with layers of red flesh circling them. The skin is tender and pink. I quickly wrap the bandages back up, not wanting to look at the wounds anymore. 

It upsets me that I allowed Peter to do this to me. Despite all of my self defense training I had in college, I still couldn't protect myself in the face of a threat. I froze when I was faced with a real challenge, with something that wouldn't be easy for me. I can't help but feel disappointed in myself.

I look down at my clothes and see that I'm wearing one of Tobias shorts and pair of his boxers. I can feel that I'm still wearing my underwear and bra underneath, but I can feel my insecurities creeping up again at the thought that he saw me in my undergarments. Especially in the state that I'm in right now. I step out of the bathroom and walk right into him. He was waiting just outside the door.

"You know, you don't have to wait for me like I'm a two year old," I say. "I can take care of myself."

"Undoubtedly." I search for the sarcasm in is voice, but I don't hear it. He kisses me softly. "Come on. Let's get you back home."

I'm nervous about seeing Chris and everyone again. I don't want them to pity me, but I feel like it's inevitable. But, Tobias has yet to give me his pity.

Tobias helps me to the car, linking his arm with mine. We drive home in comfortable silence. I let us in and call Chris' name when we get inside. There's no reply.

"She's probably not home. Help me upstairs?" I ask. He takes my arms and brings me into my room. "Thank you for all of your help," I say. He nods and lies next to me on the bed.

"Of course, Tris. I'll do anything to help," he kisses my cheek and I turn on my side to face him and he does the same. I scooch closer to him and kiss him, my hands against his chest. He wraps his arms around me and pulls me even closer to him. He kisses me fervently, his tongue slipping in my mouth. His lips feel so soft against mine, so inviting, like I want to soak up as much of him as I can. I can feel his heart beat against my hands, beating in time with mine, like we are one. We stay connected until me door is thrown open violently.

  
"Beatrice!" Chris yells. I yelp in surprise and Tobias rolls off the bed, letting out an oof as he hits the floor. I giggle. "Sorry, was I interrupting something?" 

  
"No, not at all," Tobias says form the ground. "Was she, Beatrice ?" Though I can't see him, I can hear the smirk on his face. 

"Shut up, number boy," I say as Chris comes closer to me. She gasps when she sees me.

"Jesus, Tris! What the hell happened to you? Did you get in a fight?" she says, sitting on the bed. I nod.

"I lost, if you can't tell," I say with a smile.

"This is no time to be joking, Tris," she says seriously. "I'm calling Will. He's a doctor." She pulls out her phone. "How fast can you get here?" She says into the phone. "Good. I have to go,"

"I'm fine, really," I says.

"No, you're not." Tobias says. "Her stomach is worse."

"Take off your shirt," Chris commands. I blush and glance at Tobias.

"No," I say.

"I will force you to take it off," she warns. "It's not like I haven't see you shirtless before."

"It's okay. I'll leave," Tobias says, stepping out of the room.

"Thanks, Four," I say. I sit up and take off my shirt.

"Bandages off, too."

"Are you sure?" I say. "It's pretty bad."

"I have to asses your injuries, or whatever," she says. "Now off." I unwrap them and she sucks in a breath. "Oh, my god, Tris. Who did this?"

"Just someone I knew from Chicago," I say sheepishly.

"I'm so sorry," she says. Tears start to form in her eyes. There it is, the pity that I expected.

"I'm fine," I sigh, wrapping up the bandages and putting my shirt back on. The doorbell rings and Chris lets Will in. I can hear them talking from downstairs. Tobias comes back in the room and pulls up a chair next to the bed.

"How are you feeling?" he asks. He holds my hand and kisses my knuckles.

"I'm grand," I say. He chuckles.

"I mean pain-wise," He leans down and kisses my cheek. "Is it bad?"

"Just my stomach and my ribs, really. It only hurts when I breathe," I smirk.

"Well, try not to do too much of that," he jokes. I put my hand on the back of his head and pull him down to me. He kisses me tenderly, his hands cupping my face. Will knocks on the door. Tobias clears his throat and leans back while he walks in the room. I keep my hand in his.

"Hey, Tris. How are you feeling?" He says with a smile. Typical doctor stuff.

"I'm alright," I say.

  
"Where does it hurt?" I show him various areas on my chest. He puts his hand on my side, moving it all around. I squeeze Tobias' hand and look at him, trying to ignore his fingers. Just doctor stuff. I tell myself. Just doctor stuff. He steps back.

"Is this the part when you list all of things that are wrong with me?" I ask, trying to relieve so,e of the tension in the room. Will laughs.

"That is exactly this part. You seem okay, for the most part. A few broken and bruised ribs, some lost blood. I can give you some pain medicine and some bandages for the cuts. Just... Don't do anything to... Strenuous," he says as he looks from me to Tobias, eyebrows furrowed. I blush.

"Okay, doctor Will," I say. "You can leave now." He and Christina leave the room, leaving Tobias and I alone.

"Looks like you're going to live," Tobias says. He sits back on the side of the bed. He leans down and kisses my forehead.

"I'll still be here to annoy you," I say. "Now, you need to get some sleep."

"You're right. Are you going to be okay if I go home? I don't really want to leave you," he says thoughtfully.

"You're not going anywhere," I command. I lift the covers, inviting him into the bed. "We're just sleeping, don't worry," He crawls in next to me and I rest my head on his chest. His arms wrap around me.

"Oh, I'm not worried, Beatrice," he says, smirking.

"Don't call me Beatrice," I say. He looks down at me and I tilt my head up at him.

"Or what, Beatrice?" He challenges.

"Are there any names you hate?" I ask.

"If there were, I certainly wouldn't tell you," he says, tapping my nose. I giggle.

"So there are them?" He doesn't say anything back. I think of nickname anyone could give to him. "What I were to call you Five?" He shakes his head. "Three?"

"Nope."

"Number boy?"

"Doesn't bother me,"

"Jesus Christ. What about Eaton?"

"No," he says. Shaking his head. "You'll find it eventually."

"Will you tell me when I get it?" I ask. I lean up and kiss his stubbly chin. He nods.

"What about Toby?" I say. He cringes. "I found it, didn't i?"

"You may have," he says. "I hate it when people call me Toby. But if you started. Calling me that, I think I could get used to it."

"Well, you better get started with that, Toby," I whisper. My eyes are starting to get heavy. All this sleeping and not doing anything these past few days is making me tired. I can't imagine how Tobias feels.

"Whatever, Beatrice. Good night," he whispers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so so so so so so so so so so so so so so sorry!!! It has been almost two weeks since I updated and I could probably go on for a while with excuses, but they don't really benefit anyone. I sincerely apologize for being so late with my updates, and I will try to be better in the future. Is there direct messaging on this website? I know they have it on ff.net, but I'm actually fairly new to this website.. I feel like the quality of my writing has been getting worse and worse. Is that just me? Anyways, thanks for reading these 12 chapters, and make sure to keep commenting if you like it or if you don't.  
> ~Isabel


	13. Chapter 13

It's been about a week since I woke up in Tobias' house. He has been visiting me a lot, making sure that I'm okay and that I can function. I've told him that I'm fine; that I don't need him here whenever he has free time, but he ignores me. It's kind of sweet actually. I doesn't bother me as much as it bothers Chris. By now, she's practically begging him to leave.

I have healed very well and surprisingly quickly, and I'm almost back to normal. My stomach has scabbed over, and fortunately the cuts on my face didn't leave scars. The bruises are fading and my ribs are healing.  

I told Max what happened, and he said I was very brave. I don't really get how what I did was brave. I see it as more cowardice, but whatever. He, of course, let me take some time off of work, which in am very grateful for. I'm going back in a few days, but I decided to make the most of the next few days I have off.

Tobias is finally taking me out for my first date tonight. He said that he's going to pick me up at 7:00. I don't know where we're going; he wouldn't tell me, but I know that it going to be great. I haven't told Chris yet, because I know she would drag me out shopping. I'm thinking I'll tell her a couple hours before so she doesn't have enough time to go out.

Right now, I'm sitting on my bed reading. I haven't really done anything productive or left the house in a while, and I'm yearning for fresh air. I've gone on walks, but nothing very interesting. Bored, I pull out my phone and text Tobias.

Where are we going tonight? Should I dress nicely?

I turn back to my book until my phone buzzes.

Dress nicely, but not too nicely. And where we're going is a surprise that you will figure out tonight.

I groan. Of course he wouldn't tell me. Chris comes in a few minutes later to give me some water.

"You know I'm perfectly capable if taking care of myself?" I say. She rolls her eyes.

"I know. I just wanted to bring you water," she says. "You've got to get out of the house." Believe me, I know.

"I'm dying, being cooped up in this room. Actually, I have to ask you a favor," I say. I look at the clock. It's 5:30, so she wouldn't have time to drag me to the mall. "Four is taking me out for a make up first date, and I was wondering if—" I'm cut off by a squeal.

"Of course, I'll help you get ready!" She yells. "Why didn't you tell me earlier? I would've taken you out shopping..." She quints her eyes at me suspiciously. "You didn't tell me for that exact reason, am I right?" I shrug and smile innocently.

"Maybe..." I say.

"Come with me to my room, Tris. I've got to find something that you can wear," she says. I follow her down the hall and sit on her bed. "Did he say to wear fancy clothes?"

"He said nicely, but not too nicely," I say. "And anyways, it's not that big of a deal. You don't have to dress me and stuff."

"Yes, I do. I have to. Try this on," she says, throwing a light blue dress. "Don't even bother going to the bathroom; I don't care." I push down my sleep shorts and pull my t-shirt over my head, not embarrassed in front of her. I slip the dress on, and it's far too big. It goes slightly past my knees. The fabric is loose around my hips; it's clearly made for someone with wider hips than me. I take it off and sit back down on the bed.

"No," I say. "Not that one."

She throws various dresses at me for the next fourty five minutes. All of them are not my body type, too revealing, or too formal. I've tried on quite a few, more than I can count, and none of them seem to work. She moves some hangers aside and tosses another one at me.

"This is so frustrating. Try this one," she says. I hold it up, and by the looks of it, it won't work, it's a pale purple color, floor length. It's actually very pretty, it's just not something I would wear. I pull it over my head and look in the mirror. The skirt is too long and the color looks terrible on me. She shakes her head.

"I don't know if any of my dresses are going to work for you, and I've already made you try most of them," she complains. She looks so disappointed. She taps her foot and closes her eyes, like she's thinking. Then, her eyes pop open and she runs into her closet. She drags out a large box, filled with clothes.

"This is my box of things to give away. They're all too small for me, so they might fit you. I never actually got around to giving them away, so you can have them." she explains. She pulls out a a deep blue dress that actually seems like it might work. It's knee length and has dark green accents all throughout. I put it on. It's too tight, too short too... not me. She clicks her tongue.

"You are the worst person to pick clothes for," she says. I smile.

"Does that mean you'll never take me shopping?" I ask hopefully.

"Haha, nice try. I like the color, so that's something to work with," she tells me. She goes back to the box and pulls out everything that is a similar color. She lays them out on the ground and I puck one up. It's a sweater-dress type thing with Aztec-y patterns all over it. I put it on and she gasps.

"Finally. Tris, you look hot. Now we just have to do hair and makeup, and you'll be already for your date," she says with a smile. I look down at myself. The hem of the dress goes right to my knees, and it's long sleeved. The neck line isn't too low, so it's not very revealing. It's beautiful. "Sit so I can do your makeup."

I sit on a chair, awaiting hair and makeup. Chris takes some stuff out of her vanity and dolls up my face. It surprisingly doesn't take that long. I stand up and look in the mirror.

As much as I want this to be the cliche moment when the girl in the mirror isn't me, and I've never felt this pretty before, it's not. The girl in the mirror is still me, just a more glamorous version of me. I look nice, don't get me wrong, I just look like a little kid who managed to expertly put on way too much of their mother's makeup.

"You look amazing, Tris! Four will be all over you!" I fake a smile.

"Thank you. I feel really pretty."

"Good. Four will be here in..." She looks at her watch. "Fifteen minutes. Make any last minute adjustments you need to do." I don't really feel like I need to do anything else, so I read until he gets here. I open the door when he comes and he smiles at me.

"Wow," he says. I blush. "You look stunning."

"You're not too bad yourself, Mr. Four," I reply. I hook my arm in his and we walk to his car. He opens the door for me. "So what are we doing?" I ask when he gets in the car I turn around and see that Rose is sitting in the back seat. "Clearly something where she can join us," I say, leaning back and petting her neck. I face back front.

"We are doing something super secret that you will find out when we get there," he says. He turns the key in the ignition before leaning over and kissing my nose. "Hi, Tris." I put my hand on the back of his neck and pull him to me. 

"Hi, Toby," I whisper. He scrunches his nose up, looking adorable. 

"I was hoping you'd forget about that by now," he says. 

"Nope," I say. He winks at me.

"Okay, Beatrice," he responds. He pulls out of the driveway and down the street.

"We're, going somewhere out side and/or dog-friendly," I say, trying to figure out where we're going. He nods, momentarily taking his eyes off of the road to look at me.

"You'll find out. Trust me." He says. I sigh.

She drives to the bottom of a hill sort of near our house. He parks the car and gets out, opening to door for me and then Rose. She hops out and runs around Tobias' feet. He clips a leash on her. He gets something out of the trunk and hands me a bag and a blanket.

"We're having a picnic!" I say.

"Yeah, but it's a special kind of picnic," he says. He grabs my hand and we walk up the steps to the top of the hill. He lays down the blanket in a patch of grass and we sit down. "This is a bit of a tradition I have, not just with girlfriends, but with friends as well," he tells me, pulling food out of the bag. He lays it out in front of us.

"Is this breakfast for dinner?" I ask. I look at the array of food he brought, and it consists of pancakes, eggs, bacon, and, of course, french toast. "It's breakfast for dinner." I repeat.

"You guessed it. I made sure I brought french toast because I know it's your favorite," he says.

"Aww, you're the best," I say, giving him a kiss. I out a price of french toast on my plate. Tobias pours me a glass of wine and hands it to me. "Thanks, Tobias. This is really nice."

"I wanted to take me lovely girlfriend out on a first date, and I figured you would like it," he says. Girlfriend. Just hearing him say the word makes my stomach do a flip.

"I really like it," I say, my mouth full of food. He laughs.

"Plus, I figured we'd have a good view of the sunset," he says.

"You are too sweet," I say. I crawl into his lap. "Thank you. This is a good ending to a not particularly good week."

We stay like that for a while, watching the sky change colors and transform day in to night. We make out, too, but saying that we watch the stars makes it more romantic sounding. We don't speak again until after the sun sets.

"Do you think we're alone?" he whispers. I turn around and look at him.

"What do you mean?" I ask. He shrugs.

"I don't know. Just... The thought that there could be other life out there, a whole other race of living beings, scares me. That we don't know about them and that they could be thinking the same thing as I am. But then again, the thought that we are the only planet anywhere, everywhere, that has life, is equally as terrifying, maybe even more. That we could just be totally and utterly alone," he says. How am I supposed to answer to that?

"You're so deep, Toby," I say. He laughs and shakes his head.

"I don't know. It's just a thought," he says. I kiss him softly, my arms going around his neck.

"I like your thoughts," I say.

"What do you want to be?" he asks randomly.

"What?"

"I'm guessing you didn't move to San Francisco to be a waitress, so what do you want to be?"

"Oh. I really want to be a teacher," I say. He smiles. "I have since I was a kid."

"That's awesome, Tris. Teachers are cool," he says. "You'll be an extra cool teacher because you're just cool in the first place."

"Don't be so sure that I'll be one. I haven't even made an attempt to look at any schools yet," I say. He smiles.

"I have no doubt in you, Beatrice." He says. He pecks my lips. "None at all."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, I didn't make the deadline I was supposed to update by, and I have a feeling that I never will. It's getting harder and harder for me to update, but I promise that I won't give up on this story, because I'm actually really excited about this fic. None of you guys answered my questions I put in the last chapter notes... So if you want to read that mad answer cause I don't feel like re writing it.  
> By the way, al of the comments just make my day, no matter what they say. Whenever I get an email that says comment on new leaf, it just makes me happy, so do the kudos, so I just wanted to thank you guys for those. I hope you guys like this comment, bookmark, subscribe, whatever you do on this website and maybe I'll give you a piece of candy.  
> ~Isabel


	14. Chapter 14

_Tris_

I wake to Tobias' sweet voice in my ear, all gruff and sexy from just waking up.

"Tris," he whispers. "Time to wake up." I roll away from him. I know it's him, and I'm definitely awake, but I not sure I want to be.

"Just five more minutes," I say. I hear him chuckle and feel him gently roll me onto my back. He leans down and kisses me very softly. It takes all that I am not to grab his hair and smush him against me. Since I can't do that, I let my eyes flutter open. The lock with his blue ones for a second. In this light, they look lighter than they normally do. I see small flecks of lighter blue and even gold. They're beautiful, just like him. I smile slightly and close my eyes again, pretending to be asleep.

"I know you're awake, Beatrice; I'm not stupid," he says with a chuckle.

"No, Toby," I whine. I sit up and rub my eyes. I look at him and smile. "Hi."

"Morning, beautiful," he says with a smirk. I blush, which makes him smile. I lean forward and kiss him.

"Morning, handsome," He kisses me again, his arms looping around me, pulling me closer to him. I snake my arms around his neck. I pull back for air after a minute.

"So, Tris. Today is an important day, which you did not know before right now, correct?" He asks. I shake my head.

"No, what's today?"

"Every year, around this time, all of us—us being me, Uriah, Zeke, Will, Chris, Shauna, Marlene, and now you—go up to Zeke and Uriah's house on the Russian river. So, considering you're the newest member of our group and that we like you, you're invited," He says. I smile.

"That's sweet, that you guys have yearly traditions," I say.

"Yeah, yeah. Are you coming?" he asks. I'm a little unsure. I know Max is an understanding boss, and that my job is really hardcore right now, but I've already taken so much time off.

"I would love to, of course, but I've already missed a lot of work..." I tell him. He laughs.

"Victoria came with us when she was working there one year. Max knows that we do this every year, so he'll probably expect it. He might even ask you about it," He assures me.

"You sure?" I say. He nods.

"100 percent. Now we should probably wake up Rose and go home before people wander their way up here," he says. He stands up and holds his hand out to me, which I gladly take. He pulls me up to his level. We stare into each other's eyes.

"What are we waiting for? Let's go!" I say. I start to walk away before he pulls me back to him. "What?"

"I forgot something," He responds with a smirk. He puts a hand on the small of my back, pulling me into him. He presses his lips to mine. I giggle and push myself away from him. I run down the stairs away from him. Rose runs down after me. He stands at the top of the stairs, watching me giggle childishly. Rose barks at me, and I turn around and bark back. Tobias laughs.

"You coming?" I yell to him. He jogs down the stairs until he's right behind me.

"Let's go," He whispers in my ear. I shiver at the feeling of his hot breath on my neck, and he laughs. He steps away and takes my hand, clipping the leash to Rose's collar. We walk back to the car, and I almost fall back asleep on the drive home.

"Tris, we're here," Tobias says softly. I sit up and look at him. "Why are you so tired?"

"In my defense, I went to bed after you," I tell him. He smiles and kisses me. He cups my cheeks and deepens the kiss, leaving me wanting more. We're interrupted by the honking of a horn. I turn and see Chris outside the window, an air horn in her hand. I put a hand over my heart and open the door.

"Jesus Christ, Chris. You scared me," I say. She fake pouts.

"Awww, I'm sorry I interrupted your little love fest," she says sarcastically. "Sorry, Eaton, but I need to steal her for the next few hours." Tobias chuckles.

"Okay. I'll see you soon," he says to me. I crawl over and kiss him one more time.

"Thank you so much for last night. It was amazing," I say. He smiles.

"Thank you, Tris," he responds. Chris grabs my shirt and pulls me out of the car.

"Did you guys get it on last night?" Chris asks, her eyebrows wiggling. I blush and grab her hand, pulling her towards the door. I hear Tobias laughing.

"Bye, Four," I call out before entering my house. "Why do you have to steal me?"

"I don't have to, I just want to. Plus we only have a few more hours before we leave. I'm assuming he told you about that," she says, walking into the kitchen. "You are packed, right?"

"How the hell am I supposed to be packed? I just found out about this trip this morning?" I say. What if I don't have enough time?

"Relax, Trissy. We still have..." She looks at the wall clock. "5 hours 'till we leave. Do you have everything you need?" she asks hopefully.

"Don't call me Trissy," I say. I sit down at one of the high chairs at the island bar. She stands facing me, resting her elbows on the counter near the stove. "What do I need to bring?"

"Shirts, short, stuff like that. It's really hot up there at this time of year. Also, bathing suit," she says. Shit, I don't have a bathing suit. She must have seen the look on my face. "I'm sensing a trip to the mall. I'll get my keys." I groan.

"I don't like shopping," I complain. She grabs her car keys and purse from the living room.

"Suck for you, 'cause I do. I'll pay for you this time if you come," she offers. I sigh and stand up.

"Fine lets go," I say. She squeals.

"We're going to get you a super hot bikini that Eaton will love. He will be all over you," she gushes as he get into the car. I tune out the rest of what she has to say and nod my head occasionally the whole way there. She sighs once we pull into the parking lot.

"My home away from home," she says dramatically. I groan.

"Shut up," I say, getting out of the car.

"You shut up," she says back. She grabs my hand and basically drags me to the mall. "First stop, Victoria's Secret!" Oh no.

"Come on, Chris, anywhere but there," I say. I hate being seen in there,especially with all of the, like, fourteen year olds that give me weird looks. If anything, it's weird that they're in there, not me.

Chris forces me to try on a bunch of different swim suits, finally settling on a black one with a crisscross-y type pattern on them. I actually really like it.It's a bit smaller than I'd like it to be, a bit to little fabric, but it's okay. I looks good on me, I must say. **(If you want to see it, the link is https://ww.victoriassecret.com/swimwear/triangle/crisscross-triangle-top-beach-sexy?ProductID=192627 &CatalogueType=OLS&swatchImage=V389342 it's so cute!)**

Chris and I look around the mall for another hour, buying random things that I still need. A lot of my boxes were lost in transit, and the few that are left are supposed to be here in a few days. Thankfully, all of my important things were in my suitcases, but in did lose a few things that I miss. We go back home and I pack up all my stuff that I will need, including my bathing suit and few articles of clothing I bought today. I call Max and tell him that I'm going to be gone, but he said he already knew.

"I expected it." he explains. "Around this time of year, I always lose my best workers for a couple of weeks. It's fine, Tris, have fun."

"Thank you so much, Max. I will be back soon, and I'm sorry for missing so much work," I say.

"Don't worry about it. Have a good time. Bye, Tris," he hangs up the phone.

Zeke and Shauna come over at around 4 o'clock, greeting Chris and I. Tobias comes a few minutes later, kissing me upon his arrival. Will follows soon after that, and now were just waiting for Uriah and Marlene. Tobias and I sit on the front step, casually chatting when we hear a cheer. I look down the street to see Uriah, the top half of his body sticking out of the sun roof of a minivan, Marlene behind the wheel. Everyone comes outside to see what's going on, laughing when the see Uriah.

"Did you steal Mom's car?" Zeke yells. Uriah nods. They pull up into the drive way.

"Alright, everybody in," Marlene says, rolling down the window. We all pile into the car, putting the bags in the trunk. Tobias and I sit in the way back, Chris and will just in front of us, Zeke and Shauna in front of them, and Uriah and Marlene in the very front. Tobias kisses my cheek lightly.

"Hi," he says quietly. I kiss him back until a pretzel is thrown at us. I look up the see Chris sticking her head around the seats.

"Can you guys at least wait until we get there to dry hump each other? I don't think Zeke and Uriah's mom would be very pleased if I threw up in her car," she says. I blush.

"You didn't have to turn around and look at us. You made a conscious decision to peek your little hear around the seats and watch us," Tobias points out. Chris glares at him, which makes him laugh.

"I can hear the smacking of your lips," she defends. I blush more and duck my head into Tobias' chest. He smells nice. He wraps his arm around my shoulders.

"Whatever, Christina," he says with a chuckle.

"You guys are cute. Maybe I'll accept it for a few more days, but then you've got to get the PDA in check," she says. I lift my head and look at her.

"We're not even in public, we're in a minivan," I point out. She scoffs and turns back around.

"You know what I mean," she calls back to us. Tobias turns to look at me and laughs. He kisses my nose.

Tobias and I chat and kiss in the back the whole way there, much to Chris' dismay. For about thirty minutes of the ride, we listened to Death Cab For Cutie through his head phones and made out, my legs crossed over his lap. Now, we've finally arrived at our destination: a cute little house right on the water. We enter, my hand in Tobias' and set our stuff down. The door leads right to a long hallway with multiple doors, which I am assuming are bedrooms. I walk down the hallway into the main room, which is a combination of a living room, kitchen, and dining room. One entire wall is just windows, over looking the wide river and the sky, which will no doubt be a great place to watch the sun set. There are a few guitars in the corner of the room.

"Woah," I say, pressing my hand on the glass. I turn around and look at Zeke and Uriah. "This place is amazing!"

"I know. Thank you," Zeke says.

"How are we doing room this time?" Will asks.

"I'm rooming with Tris!" Chris calls out. Will groans.

"I don't want to have to share a bed with Four," he complains.

"Thanks, man," Tobias says. Will shrugs.

"Sorry, baby," she says, kissing him. She walks over to me, smiling.

"Then I call staying with Shauna," Marlene says. Despite the two year age gap, the two of them are very close.

Uriah and Zeke look at each other for a second.

"No!" They both yell at the same time. I laugh. I walk over to Tobias and lace my fingers with his. He squeezes my hand comfortingly, smiling down at me.

"I'm not sharing a room with him!" Uriah yells.

"Oh, shut up, you're the one that steals all the covers," Zeke yells back.

"Okay, guys, please shut up," Chris says. They calm down a bit. "I call the front room." Numerous complaints break out, and I don't really know what's going on at all.

"They're all crazy," Tobias whispers in my ear. I turn around so I'm facing him.

"I know! This is like high school drama. Well, not my high school drama," I say. Memories of Peter flash in front of me.

"Hey, tris, don't think about that. Think about now. You get the high school experience of stupid boys and sleeping arrangements," he says. I hug him and kiss his cheek.

"Thank you, I whisper. He squeezes me before letting go. I turn around and see that the fight seems to have been resolved. Shauna looks at us with an eye brow raised, while the others seem too occupied with each other to notice us. I blush and look at my toes.

  
"Okay, so the rooms are me and Four, Uriah and Will, Shauna and Marlene, and Chrissy and Trissy," Zeke says. "Any objections?" Everyone shakes their head. Chris grabs my hand and pulls me to our room. She starts unpacking her clothes and putting them in the closet.

"You and Eaton are so cute," she says. I shake my head and sit down on the bed.

"You seems to complain about us a lot," I point out. She scoffs.

"That's just to annoy you," she says. "Anyway, put your swimsuit on. We're going swimming!" I grab my bikini and walk to the bathroom, changing into it. I throw on a cover up and walk back to my room. I knock on the door.

"Chris? Can I come in?" I ask.

"Come in!" She yells through the door. I walk in just as she puts on a large shirt, which I'm guessing is Will's. "You ready?" I nod. We walk out to the living room, where everyone sits in their swimsuits. Zeke and Shauna sit on a couch, making out, his hand cupping her boob.

"You want to get mad at someone for PDA, get mad at them," I tell Chris. She grabs a pretzel out of a bag on the counter and throws it at them.

"Get a room, you two!" She yells. Zeke laughs and stands up, holding his hand out for her. Shauna takes it, and he leads her down the hallway. Tobias groans.

"Where are we going swimming?" I ask. They all stare are me like I asked if the world was round. "What?"

"We swim in the river," Chris says with a laugh. "What did you think?"

"I don't know, sometimes you can't swim in rivers and stuff," I say. She laughs again.

"Whatever, let's go."

We all walk down to the water, and I see that the house is much bigger than I thought. Underneath the house, there is another floor, which is... Get this... A sauna. A personal sauna. I don't think this place could get any better.

_Tobias_

Tris and I hold hands before slowly walking into the water. I can't help but notice how sexy she looks in her bikini. Zeke and Uriah ran in quickly, racing to see who could get to the other side faster. Shauna, Marlene, and Chris said they wanted to sunbathe, so they lie on the shore in front of the house.We walk until it goes right up the her neck.

"Tobias," she whispers. I can tell that she is already on her tip-toes, straining her neck to stay above the water. I laugh and pick her up, letting her climb onto my back. We walk until in too deep for me too.

"We have to swim for a little, just until where Zeke is," I explain, looking over my shoulder at her. She looks confused.

"But he's right in the middle of the lake," she says.

"I'm aware. It gets really shallow. Just trust me," I say. She untangles herself from me and we swim to the middle. She stands up and smiles.

"The water is warmer than I expected," she says. "I thought it would be cold, like the ocean."

"This is a river. Not the ocean," I say. She rolls her eyes.

"I know that." I pull her close to me and wrap my arms around her. I kiss her gently.

"Do you like it here?" I ask her. She nods.

"I love it. It's so... Sunny and nice," she remarks. I chuckle.

"You never find that in San Francisco." I say.

"Tell me about it. I moved here thinking it'd be a sun and clear skies, but no, all I get is fog, fog, fog," she says. I laugh.

After a little while, everyone starts to get cold and we go back inside. Zeke nod I grill some steaks on the grill while the others sit in the hot tub. Beers are passed around, and this time, Tris actually drinks it. After the food is ready, we put it on paper plates and pass them out, joining them in the hot tub. Tris sits next to me, my arm draped over her shoulders. I kiss her temple. She makes me so happy, and we've only been dating for a few weeks. I had thought for a long time that the only relationships I would be able to be in would be random fucks with girls whose names I didn't know. Sure, I've had a few girlfriends back in high school and college, but that was mostly because I was the quarterback on the football team, and that was only because I was a stupid boy and I didn't know the first thing about girls. I still don't, actually. I never thought I would get such a lovely girl at my side.

After a few rounds of drinks, everyone' starting to get a little tipsy, even Tris. She's very giggly, and she always seems to have a hand on my stomach. Not that I mind; I like the contact. I have a high tolerance for alcohol, so I just feel a slight warmth. Zeke is totally hammered, though. He's kissing Shauna's neck, despite just having his little "session" with her earlier today. She keeps shoving him off of her, but she's laughing. I know they really love each other.

Somehow Tris ends up in my lap. The amount of space in the tub seems to keep receding, even though I know it's not. I'm feeling a little claustrophobic. I try to take deep breaths, smelling the mixture of chlorine, river water, and Tris' strawberry shampoo. She turns around a looks at me, placing a hand on my chest.

"Why is your heart beating so fast? I could feel it through my back," she says. I shrug.

"I'm fine," I say.

"No, it's not, I can tell. What's wrong?" Wow. Even when she's a little drunk she's still amazingly smart.

"I'm just feeling a little claustrophobic," I explain.

"Let's get out, then," she says. She starts to stand up.

"No, Tris, it's fine," I tell her. I pull her back into the water.

"If you don't feel good, then let's leave." I sigh and stand up too.

"Getting out?" Chris asks. I nod. "Why so soon?"

"I'm not too good with... Small spaces," I say.

"'Kay. Just don't have too much fun in that house by yourself," she says with a wink. I hold Tris' hand and help her out of the hot tub. She slips on a stair and falls right into my arms. She giggles.

"Thanks," she says. We walk back into the house, grabbing towels to dry ourselves off. I wrap one around her, hugging her from behind. She giggles and squirms so that she's facing me. She kisses me and slides her hands up and down my stomach.

"It's like a rock," she murmurs. I laugh.

"What?"

"Your stomach. It's like a rock. Can I punch it?" She asks, looking up at me innocently. Maybe she had a little more to drink than I thought.

"You want to punch my stomach?" I ask. I know it won't hurt; I've had people ask that before. She nods. "Okay, go ahead." I flex my muscles and she rams her fist into it. Damn, she's got a powerful punch. It's didn't really hurt though.

"Owww," she whines, cradling one hand with the other. I laugh. "I'm tired."

"Okay, Tris. I'm going to get you to bed, okay?" I say. She nods, and I pick her up. I walk down the hallway and lay her down in her bed. I feel a little bad, leaving her to sleep in her wet swimsuit, but I don't want to invade her privacy. I've never seen her naked, though it may be something I want, I would never do it unless I had her full consent.

"Goodnight, Tobias," she says, snuggling down into her pillow. I kiss her cheek and walk towards the door.

"Goodnight, Tris," I say before flipping off the light. I walk back to my room and change out of my trunks, pulling on boxers and a tee shirt, knowing it will be awkward with Zeke if I'm shirtless. I read until he comes in, also pretty drunk. He groans at the light, and I flip it off.

"Thank you," I hear him whisper.

"No problem, man," I reply.

*~*~*~*

I wake to the sound of a guitar and light singing. I look at the clock; 4:32. Curious, I get out of bed and walk into the living room. I see Tris staring out the window, Zeke's guitar in her hands.

"Tris?" I say. She turns around and wipes her eyes. Now I see that she's been crying. I walk over to her quickly and sit down next to her, pulling her into my lap. She cries quietly into my chest. I put a hand on the back of her head, holding her close to me.

"What's wrong?" I whisper. She sniffles and lifts her head. Her eyes are glistening with tears. I kiss her.

"I miss my parents, Tobias," she says. "I haven't seen them in so long, and I don't think they want to see me." Thought of my parents fill my head, and my jaw tightens.

"Why wouldn't they want to see you?" I ask. She shrugs.

"My dad wasn't too happy with me moving away. My whole family has always been in Chicago, if not Illinois. I think he thinks I'm breaking a family patter or something," she explains.

"Why don't you call them?" I suggest.

"I'm scared of what they might say," she says. I can't help but feel protective of her. I know what it feels like to be terrified of a parent. For a different reason, but still.

"I can do it with you, if you want," I say. Her eyes light up.

"Really?" She asks hopefully.

"Really."

"You're the best," she says. She gives me a kiss. I lightly nibble on her lower lip, asking for entrance. She opens up, and our tongues dance together. I pull her a little closer to me, if that's possible. She breaks after a little bit for air.

"What was that song you were singing?" I ask.

"My dad used to sing it to me when I was younger. He never sang; said he wasn't good at it. But when he sang to me, it was like he was giving me a part of him. My mom wasn't really into that kind of stuff. Of course, she still acted as a parent to me, but she never sang. I remember when I was young, maybe six or seven, my parents were on a business trip," She smiles as she tells this story, but it's a sad smile. "My brother would sing it to me. Whenever I was sad that they were away, he always sang to me. He was a good brother."

"I wish I had stories like that to tell," I say. She laughs and looks down.

"It's stupid, I know, but that song means so much to me," she admits.

"Hey," I say. I put two fingers under her chin and tilt it up so she's looking at me. "It's not stupid. I think it's great." Just like you.

"Stay with me? Tonight?" She asks. I kiss her nose.

"Of course. I'll just wake up Zeke," I say. She giggles quietly. I stand up, scooping her up into my arms. I walk to my room, knocking on the door.

"Zeke," I say, trying to wake him up. Luckily, he's not too heavy of a whisper. He rubs his eyes and looks at me.

"Dude, what the hell are you doing? It's like 5 in the morning," he whispers. He puts a hand to his forehead and groans. Hangover, I suspect.

"Can you stay in another room and give Tris and me this room?" I ask. He groans and sits up.

"Fine, but that means I have to stay with Chris," he says. "Whatever, it just means I can fuck with her in the morning. Bed's all yours." He gets up, leaving the room. "Have fun, you two."

Tris and I snuggle in the bed, my arms wrapped around her.

"Thanks for being there for me," she whispers.

"You don't have to thank me, Tris," I reply.

"Well, I will anyway. Goodnight, Toby," she says. I chuckle.

"Goodnight, Beatrice."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Long chapter this time!! I finally got this chapter up, and I'm so glad. I'm so sorry, and I will try to update more often, I really will, and I'm not just lying about that. I've recently been binge watching Sherlock and Orange is the new black, which is pretty much all I'm doing right now... Thanks for sticking with me, even though I've been lazy with posting to this story and stuff. For the comments that said that this was the best story they've ever read, I doubt it, but thank you so much. Reading that, or really anything, makes me happy. Love you guys!  
> ~Isabel  
> Also sorry about the interrupting authors not in the middle...


	15. Authors note (will be deleted)

**hi everyone** ,

***not an update* So basically I am going away on vacation today and I wont be able to update. I was going to try to get a new chapter in yesterday or before I leave today but I wasn't able to so... I will try to update as soon as I get back (next Saturday) and I am so sorry for my inconsistency with all of this. Love you guys!!**

**~Isabel**

**honestly I hate it when authors do this because it's all exciting cause you think there's a new chapter but there isn't ... I'm sorry**


End file.
